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Memorials

Old Shropshire

THE ABBEY CHURCH J'br.^sCury

MEMORIALS
OF OLD SHROPSHIRE

EDITED BY

THOMAS AUDEN, m.a.. f.s.a.

Vicar op Condovbr, Salop, and Rural Dean ; Prebendary of

Lichfield ; Chairman of the Counol of the

Shropshire Arch^ological Society

Author of
** Skrtwsbitry : A Historical and Topoiruphical Account 0/ thg Town" ttc.

Illustrated by Katharine M. Roberts

LONDON
BEMROSE & SONS Limited, 4 SNOW HILL, E.G.

AND DERBY
I^
[Aii Rifhtt Rgitrved]
/ • '

327656B

THIS

WORK ON SHROPSHIRE

IS DEDICATED

IN THE WORDS OF THE TIME-HONOURED

TOAST

"TO ALL FRIENDS ROUND

THE WREKIN"

PREFACE

{SHOULD like by way of preface to say a few words
as to what the reader may, and may not, expect
to find in the following volume. He must not expect
everything that falls under the head of MEMORIALS OF
Old Shropshire ; but if he has the patience to read the
volume through, I venture to think he will be in possession
of a fairly clear idea of the past history of the county,
viewed under several aspects. In the chapters written
by myself, and in those contributed by others, I have
alike endeavoured to avoid the scrappiness which is too
apt to attach to a volume like the present. When one
knows a county well, there is always the temptation to
trot out some particular hobby-horse, or even a whole
team of them; in other words, to give exaggerated
prominence to some particular place, or person, or family,
which may be of great interest to the writer himself or
to a few local antiquaries, but is of very little value to
the general reader. Such historical problems are of
great use in the Transactions of a local society, but my
desire is that the present volume may be found a readable

viii PREFACE

book, accurate in its history, but as far as possible free
from technicalities. With this view I have tried to make
each chapter more or less complete in itself. This has
occasionally involved a certain amount of repetition, but
the viewing of the same incident from a different stand-
point, and in a different setting, wiD, it is believed, only
add to its interest, and give completeness to the picture
as a whole. It has not appeared desirable to encumber
the text to any large extent with foot-notes. The
authorities consulted have been many in number, and of
very various kinds; some original and some already in
print — headed, of course, by the monumental work of
Eyton — but the aim of the volume did not seem to call
for detailed references except in particular instances.
It may be added that every chapter is new, and has
been written expressly for the present work, with the
exception of that on the old families of the county.
This subject the late Mr. Stanley Leighton had made
so thoroughly his own that it seemed better to reproduce
what he had written than attempt anything new, only
bringing up his paper to present date. Miss K. M.
Roberts's illustrations may be left to speak for them-
selves.

It only remains that I should express my warm
thanks to those who, by contributions to which their
names are appended, or by unacknowledged suggestions.

PREFACE ix

have assisted to give the volume whatever merit it may
possess; and to none am I more indebted than to the
friend who has compiled the Index, but who in his
modesty requests me to withhold his name.

And so — in the words of Chaucer —

Go, little book; God send thee good passage.

T. A.
CoNDOVER Vicarage,
Shrewsbury,

November^ 1906.

CONTENTS

General Story of the Shire

The Origin and Evolution of the
Towns

Religious Movements — Mediaeval
and Post- Mediaeval .

Foik-Lore : Legends and Old
Customs

Ludlow and the Council of the
Marches

Shropshire and the Civil War,
1642-1646 ....

By the Editor

Page
I

By Henrietta M. Audbn,
F.R.HistS. ... 25

By the Editor

By Charlotte S. Burne 120

By Caroline A. J. Skeel,
D.Litt, F.R.Hist.S. . 143

By John Ernest Auden,
M.A 162

Old Shropshire Families : Changes
in Land Ownership .

Shropshire and its Schools .

Architectural Story; Representa-
tive Buildings ....

Illustrious Salopians .

Index

By the late Stanley
Leighton, M.P., F.S.A. 195

By John Ernest Auden,
M.A. .... 210

By Henrietta M. Auden,
F.R.Hist.S. . .236

By the Editor

257
275

INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS

FULL PAGE

The Abbey Church, Shrewsbury

. Frontispiece

Facing Pagb

Map of Shropshire

Wenlock Priory .

North Gate, Bridgnorth .

Old Bridge at Clun

Buildwas Abbey .

LiUeshall Abbey .

Whittington Castle

128

The Guildhall, Much Wenlock

136

Clun Castle

144

Ludlow Castle

158

Hopton Castle

178

High Ercall Hall .

184

The Solar Room, Stokesay Castle

196

Pitchford Hall

202

Carved Figures, Much Wenlock

208

Tong Church (Tomb of Foundress in i

oreground)

212

Haughmond Abbey

232

Stokesay Castle, North Side

240

Madeley Court . . . .

246

Bishop Percy's House, Bridgnorth

264

Condover Hall

272

XIV

INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS

OTHER

ILLUSTRATIONS

Pagb

Shrewsbury

. iFrom mn old Engrmnng)

Stokesay Castle .

Bridgnorth

. {From an old Engraving)

Effigy in Shifnal Church

Ellesmerc .

129

English Bridge, Shrewsbury

. {From mn old Enfrmvimi^

151

Albright Hussey .

»» >»

175

Bridgnorth

{From an old iraUr^olour)

217

Boscobel

. {From an old Eng^amng)

249

Bromfield Priory .

»» »»

267

GENERAL STORY OF THE SHIRE
By the Editor

-It

(i) CELTIC AND SAXON PERIODS

I HE history of Shropshire finds its centre of
interest in the fact, which it shares with Cheshire
on the north and Herefordshire on the south,
that it is a border County, and as such has been
associated with evety wave of conquest which has passed
across our island It is remarkable, however, that it is
first mentioned as a shire in connection with the only one
of these waves which has practically left no imprest upon
its territory. It is in connection with the incursions of
the Danes that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us that in
the year 1006 the king (Ethelred) had gone over Thames
into " Scrobbesbyrigscire,*' and there taken his abode in
the midwinter's tide. The form of the name in this
earliest mention shows that it followed the analogy of
Gloucester and Worcester in being associated with the
principal town, for Scrobbesbyrigscire is simply Shrews-
buryshire; but under Norman influence the name soon
took a softened fomk Under the year 1088 the same
Chronicle speaks of the men of " Scrobscyre," and we
probably owe to the same influence the form Salop, which
is still used as a designation both of the shire and the
principal town. Shrewsbury is the capital of Shropshire,
or the county of Salop.
B

2 Memorials of Old Shropshire

When, however, we undertake to trace the story of
Shropshire, we must go back' to a period far antecedent
to Saxon times. It had its part in invasions long before
Jutes and Angles were heard of — at a period when the
weapons of warfare were of stone and bronze rather than
of iron. No traces of Palaeolithic man have been found
in the county, but there are fairly numerous remains of
the Neolithic period, and of the Bronze and Early Iron

Shrewsbury.

[Old Engrtofime.

age, some of which are to be seen in the museum at
Shrewsbury. As might be expected from the difference
in physical character, there was at a very early period a
difference between the civilization of the level country
north of the Severn, and that of the hill country which
forms the southern half of the county. The northern part
was more easily subdued than the south, and so felt the
influence of advancing culture sooner — a state of things

General Story of the Shire 3

which is evidenced by the faqt that ahnost, if not quite»
all the prehistoric implements of bronze have been found
north of the river^ while those of stone have been found
south of it

Anyone familiar with the peasantry of Shropshire will
easily recognize in them the three earliest types which
prevailed in Britain. There are specimens of the dark
type, which we speak of as Iberian---^ort of stature with
dark hair and eyes and lengthened skuUs — and there are
stiU more numerous specimens of the Celtic races which
followed — tall and brawny, with red hair and rounded
skuUs. These Celts, who appear to have come from Cen-
tral Europe, arrived in Britain in two migrations. First
came the Goidels, or Gads, and when these had driven
the Iberian race westward, they themselves were disturbed
by the Brythons, and driven westward in turn. Each
migration marked increased prc^ess in civilization, but as
eadi race moved towards the mountainous district the
contest became more and more fierce, and the earthworks
which crown so many of the Shropshire hills show how
earnest and deadly the struggle was which took place on
its borders.

By d^frees, however, there loomed on the horizon
of Britain a power more mighty, and a civilization
much mtore advanced This was the Roman Empire,
which first interfered in the affairs of the island under
Julius Caesar in the year B.C. 55. It was not, however, till
the middle of the following century that Shropshire was
brought into contact with Rome. At that time the western
borderland of England was occupied by three principal
tribes, though it is impossible to define their exact boun-
daries. These were the Comavii on the north, whose
territory embraced part of Staffordshire and the northern
half at least of Shropshire; to the west and south of
them were the Ordovices; and again south of these lay
the Silures. These last were of wilder and fiercer manners
than the other two, and included a large mixture of the

4 Memorials of Old Shropshire

pre-Celtic tribes, a fact which is evidenced by the preva-
lence to this day of the Iberian type in the vaUeys of
Monmouthshire and Glamorgan. The chief city of the
Comavii was on the Severn, near the spot where it is
joined by the Tern, at no great distance from the foot of
the Wrekin, on whose height was the camp of refuge to
which they might betake themselves and their cattle in
case of need The time, however, had come when their
city was to pass into other hands. In the year A.D. 43,
the L^ons of Rome again appeared in Britain, and this
time they came to stay. Advancing northward and west-
ward they reduced to subjection one tribe after another,
and in the borderland made their power felt in the estab-
lishment of a Roman city on the site occupied by the
capital of the Comavii. To this they gave the name of
Viroconium, or Uriconium ; and monuments found on the
site go to show that its foundation dates from the middle
of the first century, when Ostorius Scapula was engaged
in a final effort to subdue the British chief Caradoc, or
Caractacus. That expedition had important results in
various ways, and its immediate issue is thus described by
Tacitus: —

The annj next marched against the ^nres, who, in addition to the
nattre ferocity of their tribe, placed great hopes in the yaloor of Caractacus,
whom the manj changes and prosperous turns of fortune had advanced
to a pre-eminence over the rest of the British leaders. He, skilfully
avaiUnghimself of his knowledge of the country to countervail his inferiority
in numbers, transferred the war into the country of the Ordovices, and
being joined by those who distrusted the peace subsisting between them
and Qt, soon brought matters to a decisive issue ; for he posted himself on
a spot to which the approaches were as advantageous to his own party as
they were perplexing to us. He then threw up on the more aooesnble
parts of the highest hills a kind of rampart of stone ; below and in front
of which was a river diflkult to ford, and on the works were placed troops
of soldiers.1

The exact words of the annalist are important, because
they are our only guide in fixing the site of this last stand

1 Tadtus, Annals ii. 11 (Giles' translation).

General Story of the Shire 5

of CaractacuSw It will be observed that Tacitus gives
three positive data: it was in the country of the Ordo-
vices, and it was on hills difi&cult of access (montibus
arduis), on which he threw up a rampart of stone (in
modum valli saxa prastruit), and which had at the base
a river not easy to ford (amnis vado incertd). These par-
ticulars make it certain that the battle took place within
or on the borders of Shropshire, and various suggestions
have been made as to the exact spot The locality, how-
ever, whidi seems to best fulfil the requirements of the
passage from Tacitus — ^the only one, in fact, which can
show both a deep river and a stone rampart — is the
Breidden hills on the Montgomeryshire border, where its
side descends abruptly to the Severn, which winds around
its base.

The result of the battle is well known — Caractacus
was defeated, and soon after carried to Rome, and Shrop-
shire ceased to cause trouble to the Roman arms. Peace
brought with it the development of the arts of peace,
and Uriconium became an important centre of commerce.
In the city itself, the huts of the Comavii gave place to
stately buildings of stone, including extensive public
baths and a great basilica, of which the remnants still
exist; while in the neighbourhood wealthy Romans built
villas of which the tesselated pavements discovered from
time to time attest the importance. From Uriconium as
a centre, roads led in all directions^ but the tracks which
in British days had guided uncertain steps through the
forests gave place under Roman rule to paved ways which
led straight to their destination, bridging the streams and
triumphing over every obstacle. Lead mining was
developed in the Stiperstones, and copper at Llanymynech
Hill, amd these products, together with the fruits of the
soil, were articles of commerce which kept the roads well
frequented, and brought wealth to the districts through
which they passed

There can be no doubt that the era of the Roman

6 Memorials of Old Shropshire

occupation was in many respects a time of prosperity for
Shropshire. The wealth, of course, was mainly in the
hands of the ruling race, who were probably not always
considerate to those they ruled No doubt it was British
labour which reaped the fields and dug into the hills for
minerals; no doubt British shoulders bore the stones
which paved the roads and gave stateliness to the build-
ings of the city; but the Romans in return gave them
protection and peace, and imparted some at least of the
culture which they themselves possessed

It is impossible to say to what extent this last was the
case, and various opinions have been formed, but there
can be no doubt as to the advantage of living under a
powerful and, on the whole, a beneficent government And
yet this had one drawback, as events proved There came
a time — never anticipated in earlier years — ^when the
Roman power in Britain waned, and her l^ons were with-
drawn to defend territories nearer home. Then it was
found that four centuries of peace had made the native
races of the island more civilized, but less able to defend
themselves when their protectors withdrew. The province
had drafted many a brave soldier into the ranks of the
l^ons to fight elsewhere, but the Britons as such had
little or no military organization.

They soon found out their need The last Roman
legions left the island in the year 410, and already the
clouds of another invasion were beginning to gather. The
races of Central Europe who inhabited the lowlands round
the mouth of the Elbe — Saxons, Jutes, and Angles ; men
who went down to the sea in ships, and occupied their
business in great waters — ^began to be restless in their
own country, and to seek for other homes across the ocean.
At first their invasions of this island were confined to the
southern and eastern coasts, but like other invaders before
them, they gradually took firmer grip of the land, and
pushed their settlements westward and northward The
wave reached Shropshire in the latter half of the sixth

General Story of the Shire 7

century. In the year 577 the West Saxons, under the
command of two brothers— Ceawlin and Cutha — gained a
great victory over the Britons at Deorham, near Bristol,
which gave them possession of the surrounding territory.
They then, according to their usual method of proceed-
ing, pushed their way up the valley of the Severn. The
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle informs us that in 584 the brothers
penetrated with their forces i|s f ar as a place called
Fethanleag — ^possibly in Cheshire, possibly in Stafford-
shire — ^where Cutha was slain; but Ceawlin took many
towns and much booty. Among them was almost cer-
tainly Uriconium, which he left a smoking ruin. There is
a curious legend as to its capture, which is of uncertain
or^^ but has survived to modem times among the neigh-
bouring peasantry — ^it is to the effect that the assailants,
findii^ it impossible to break through the walls of the
town, collected all the sparrows on which they could lay
hands, and attachii^ lights to them, let them fly. These
settled on the thatched roofs of the houses, and so set fire
to the whole town, and enabled the enemy in the confusion
to enter it without difficulty.^ An)^way, the destruction
was effectual The inhabitants who survived betook them-
selves to the loop of the Severn within which Shrewsbury
now stands, and the ruins of Uriconium became for
centuries to the popular mind a haunted place to be
avoided by night, but a quarry by day from which might
be taken materials for every form of building in the
neighbourhood

As just stated, it is in connection with the destruction
of Uriconium that we get our first glimpse of what is now
the county town. Under the name of Pengwem (the
knoll of alders), a British settlement already occupied the
high ground encircled by the river, and though this
appears to have suffered in the same raid which destroyed
Uriconium, it quickly recovered, and, re-peopled in part

1 Wright's Urumimmt p. 8o ; Min Bnrne't Shropshire Folh-L^rt, p. loa

8 Memorials of Old Shropshire

by refugees from the ruins of that city, became a flourish-
ing centre of Celtic power, and the capital of the Princes
of Powis.

Meanwhile the Saxon invaders were growing more and
more formidable; they had effected settlements and set
up kingdoms in every part of England except along the
shores and among the hills of the west The progress of
their subjugation of Shropshire may be traced with some
distinctness in the pages of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

After the invasion of the West Saxons under Ceawlin,
already described, the next danger came from the north.
In the year 606 we are told that " Ethelfrith (of Northum-
bria) led his army to Chester, and there slew numberless
Welsh." Among these were a large body ot monks from
Bangor Iscoed, ''who came thither to pray for the army
of the Welsh." The British leader was Brochmail or
Scromail, whose home was at Pengwem, and the result
of this victory was to cripple the Celtic power in the north
of the county, so that in the following reign the Northum-
brians were able to attack the British stronghold of Caer
Digoll, whose earthworks still crown the sunmiit of the
Long Mountain on the borders of the county.

Meanwhile another kingdom was rising in the centre
of England — that of Mercia. Its rulers were ambitious
and ag^[ressive, and it soon came into conflict with other
kingdoms of the invasion. In 642 the Chronicle records
that ** Oswald, King of the Northumbrians, was slain by
Penda, the Southumbrian (Mercian), at Maserfield, on the
Nones of August" This battle almost certainly took
place near Oswestry,* which derives its name from
Oswald's tree, and it marked a conflict not merely for
military supremacy between two kingdoms, but between
heathenism and Christianity. King Oswald is better
known as St Oswald, who had done aD he could to intro-
duce and foster the Christian Faith in his kingdom.

1 Skrtpskin Ar€kaoUguai SocUtj^s Transactions^ toI. ii., p. 97.

General Story of the Shire 9

Penda, on the other hand, was the champion of the old
paganism which the invaders had brought with them from
beyond the seas; and the defeat and death of Oswald
was disastrous because it rolled back for a time the spread
of the religion of Christ It was only, however, for a
time. The missions which Oswald had fostered in the
north sent out fresh emissaries southward^ and before
any long time Shropshire accepted Christianity at their
hands.

At this period the kingdom of Wessex, after being for
a considerable time subject to Mercia, again asserted itself.
Turning once more to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, we read
under the date 661 : —

In this year K«nwealh [King of Wessex] fought at Easter at Posentes-
byrig, and Wnlfhere, son of Penda, laid the country waste as far as
Aescesdun.

Posentesbyrig is clearly Pontesbury, whose hill is still
crowned with an extensive earthwork, and Aescesdun is
probably to be identified with one of the numerous Astons
which are dotted over almost the whole county.

The victory put the West Saxons in possession of an
important vaUey watered by the Rea, in which many of
them effected settlements,^ and from this time the con-
quest of the shire was as complete as it ever became. All
Ae river valleys had now been explored, and everywhere
clearings were efiPected in the forests. Villages with their
stockaded "burh," and their place of "folkmoot," sur-
rounded by their village ground and pasture land, grew up
in every direction, and became the rudiments of the
villages and townships which form the principal features
of country life to this day.

The extent of this Saxon settlement of Shropshire
may be easily traced by a study of the place-names which
survive. It will be found that these are English over most

1 For the effects of the different Saxon invasions on the language and
of the county, cf. Miss Bume's FM-Lan, pp. 618-19.

lo Memorials of Old Shropshire

of the county, but in the district known as Clun Forest
on the south-west, and in the hill country at the back
of Oswestry, they are very largely Welsh, showing that
these two districts were never resdly taken possession of
by the Saxons, but retained through all changes their old
Celtic inhabitants. It only remained for OfiPa, who
reigned over Mercia from 757 to 796, to consolidate the
Saxon power in the border country by wresting Pengwem
from the Britons and — ^pushing their boundary further
back — to mark and secure the territory thus acquired
This he did by the great earthwoik which he constructed,
or in part adapted, extending from the mouth of the
Dee to that of the Wye, which still bears the name
of Ofifa's Dyke, and remains comparatively perfect
in some parts of the county. His reign was also
marked by a change of name in the case of the county
town, such as must have taken place also with many
less important settlements. Pengwem (the knoll of
alders), when it passed into Saxon hands became Scrob-
besbyrig (the settlement among the shrubs), a name
which, like its previous designation, was derived from
the character of its site; and this, in various softened
forms, has remained its name to this day.

The wave of Danish invasion which rolled over
England during the next two centuries, scarcely touched
Shropshire. As already mentioned, the name occurs first
in connection with it, but only incidentally. The first
Danish fleet, consisting of only three vessels, arrived on
the southern shore of England towards the close of Offa's
reign, but this was but the banning of Viking inva-
sion and devastation. From that period almost up to the
Norman Conquest, the pages of the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle are largely a record of monasteries plundered,
churches destroyed, and forces routed by this formidable
foe. It contains two entries besides that already alluded
to, in which Shropshire is specially concerned. In the
year 894, during the reign of Alfred the Great, we are

General Story of the Shire ii

told that the Danes "went up along the Thames until
they reached the Severn, then up along the Severn." This
apparently means that they penetrated up the Thames
valley to the foot of the Cotswolds, and then crossed that
ridge into the Severn valley somewhere in the neighbour-
hood of Gloucester. The account goes on to say that the
''earldorman Ethered" and others collected an army,
which included "some parts of the North Welsh race,"
and "when they were all gathered tc^ether they
followed after the (Danish) army to Buttington on
the bank of the Severn, and there beset them on
every side in a fastness." After some weeks of siege,
by which the Danes were reduced to great straits
of hunger, an ene^agement took place, and "the
Christians had the victory." The village of Buttington
lies just outside the present boundaries of Shropshire at
the foot of the Long Mountain, and those who are
familiar with the Severn Valley at that point will know
how wisely Ethered and his allies chose their place of
attack. Apparently few of the Danes survived to tell the
tale. As late as the year 1839 ^ l^g^ quantity of skulls
and other human remains were discovered at the spot,
which were evidently relics of some such struggle.

In the year 896 the invaders were again in this part of
the country. Having been obliged to abandon their ships
on the Lea near London, by the defences which King
Alfred had erected between tiiem and the sea, they made
their way again across the kingdom. " They went over-
land," the Chronicle tolls uSj " until they arrived at Quat-
bridge on the Severn, and there wrought a work," that is,
constructed a fort " They then sat that winter at Bridge."
There is no difficulty in identifying these places:
* Bridge " is Bridgnorth, which has near it the village of
" Quatford," and the occurrence is still further perpetuated
by the name "Danesford" on the river itself. The
invaders, however, had no opportunity of effecting
permanent settlements. Ethered, whom Alfred had made

12 Memorials of Old Shropshire

earldorman of Mercia, kept a vigilant watch on behalf of
the king, and in this he was ably seconded by his wife
Ethelileda, who was the king's daughter. She survived
her husband some years, but the defence of her territory
did not suffer by his death. She erected fortresses at
Bridgnorth and Chirbury, and under the title " Lady of
the Mercians," won wide r^[ard She was traditionally
the founder of the church dedicated to St Alkmund in
the county town.

The best proof, however, of the statement that the
Danish invasion left no impress on the county, is to be
found in a study of the place names. There is an entire
absence of names ending in "by" and "thorpe," and
"thwaite," for example, with which we are so fsuniliar in
the north and east of England Danish blood has con-
tributed nothing to the making of the Salopian character.

(2) NORMAN

In 1066 came the Norman invasion under William the
Conqueror. It had been already prepared for by the
weak rule of Edward the Confessor, who had largely given
himself over to Norman influence, and in whose reign the
Norman Richard FitzScrob had erected a castle on the
southern border of this county, which was a centre of
oppression to the neighbourhood, and gave its name to the
modem village of Richard's Castle. William claimed the
crown of England as the appointed heir of Edward the
Confessor, but the title universally given to him of "the
Conqueror," embodies the true facts of the case. He was
no ordinary man. Known at first as William the Bastard,
he had, while yet a youth, to overcome opposition in his
native duchy which would have overwhelmed the majority
of men, but which only served to bring out the force of
his character. Every one is familiar with his invasion of
England in September, 1066, and the result of the Battle
of Senlac or Hastings. His victory was so complete that

General Story of the Shire 13

he was crowned the following Christmas at Westminster
Abbey, then fresh from the hands of its founder, Edward
the Confessor ; and though in many parts of the country
the submission to him was merely nominal, he was able
soon after to return to Normandy. He chose as Regents
in his absence his half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux,
whom he created Earl of Kent, and William FitzOsbem,
whom he made Earl of Hereford They had the stern-
ness of William without his wisdom, and die result of their
rule was an outbreak of rebellion in various parts of the
country. The leader of resistance to the Norman power
in the west midlands was Edric S}dvaticus, or Wild Edric,
who held considerable possessions in South Shropshire
and Herefordshire. In alliance with the Welsh he led
the men of Shropshire, Hereford, and Cheshire against
Shrewsbury, where the Norman power had already estab-
lished itself, and laid siege to it Their success, however,
seems to have been only partial, and after burning part of
the town they retired The incident illustrates the weak
place of all the resistance to William, which was that the
efforts were detached and isolated from one another, and
so William, by attacking his enemies in detail, overcame
one after another, until his power was firmly established

Among those who helped him and contributed to bring
about this result was his friend and kinsman Roger de
Montgomery, and William rewarded him with large
possessions both in the south and west He made him
first of all Earl of Arundel, and then at a later period
appointed him Earl of Shrewsbury, accompanying the
latter appointment with lands which practically embraced
the whole of Shropshire. As the result, Rc^er took up
his abode at Shrewsbury, and erected a castle on the
isthmus between the two arms of the Severn. Nothing
of his work now remains except, perhaps, a portion of
the entrance gateway, but it was sufiiciently formidable
to overawe the surrounding district

Roger's personal rule seems to have varied somewhat

14 Memorials of Old Shropshire

according to the domestic influences brought to bear on
him. During the regime of his first wife, Mabel de
Belesme, who was cruel and oppressive, his policy ran in
the same direction; but after her murder by those who
had suffered from her rapacity, Roger married Adeliza de
Puiset, who was a woman of very different character.
Under her influence, his rule was milder, and in particular
he founded various relijg;ious houses, including the Cluniac
Priory of Wenlock and the Benedictine Abbey of Shrews-
bury.

Meanwhile, hoirtver, the Earl was growing old His
friend and patron, William the Conqueror, died in 1087 ;
and in 1094, finding his own health faiUng, he retired to
the Abbey he had founded, and enrolling himself as a
brother, died there, and was buried near to the High Altar
of the Monastic Church. A tomb is still shown there as
his monument, but the efiigy belongs to a later date than
his death.

The social changes wrought in Shropshire by the
Norman conquest were great, as shown by a. study of the
Domesday survey. The county was at that time divided
into fifteen hundreds, each consisting of a number of
manors, whose owners and their tenants are recorded,
together with the value of each as it was then, and as
it had been in the reign of Edward the Comlessor. Earl
Roger was the owner— or strictly, tenant in capite — of
all but a very few manors, which belonged to the Bishop
of Chester and RsJph de Mortimer respectively, and those
who held under any of the three, almost without exception,
bore Norman names ; a few were held by ecclesiastical
bodies. Among the sub-tenants were a small number who
appear from their names to be Saxon, but it is clear that
the dispossession of those who had owned the land in
the time of King Edward was irery complete. It was im-
possible for this change to take place without injustice
and hardship of the severest kind at the time when it was
effected, but it had its redeeming features. The Normans

General Stoby of the Shike 15

were more thrifty and temperate in their personal habits^
more able to adapt themselves to new ircumstances and
to assimilate what was good in their sturoundings, than
those whom they dispossessed. The result was that the
Normans supplied the element of organization which the
Saxons had lacked, and no loi^ period elapsed before the
two were fused into one powerful nation. ^ The English
tongue and the English law held their own throughout
the realm, and within a century the French baron had
become an English lord"^

As rqrards Shropshire itself, thopg^ this gradual
fusion was going on underneath, the century which
foUowed the death of the Conqueror was largely one of
trouble and unrest The reign of Henry L was disturbed
by the rebellion of Robert de Belesme, the eldest son of
Roger de Montgomery, who appears to have inherited the
bad qualities of his mother, Roger's first wife. Espousing
the cause of Robert Curthose on the death of William
Rufus, Belesme raised a formidable rebellion against
Henry. He was besieged by the King in his castle of
Bridgnorth, but escaped to Shrewsbury. Having reduced
the garrison left behind at Bridgnorth, the King followed
him to Shrewsbury, making his way over Wenlock Edge
by a new road which he caused to be formed for the
purpose, and so arriving before Belesme was prepared.
Henry accepted his submission, and contented himself
with banishing him from the kingdom, but he carried his
turbulent spirit with him, and a few years later the King
seized an opportunity of arresting him, and he ended his
days a prisoner in the cattle of Wareham.

Henry paid other visits to Shropshire later on in his
reign. Two documents issued by him bear date at Nor-
ton, in the parish of Condover, and Shrewsbury received
from him privileges which are alluded to and confirmed
in an extant Charter of King John. It is almost certain

1 Social England (ist ed.), toI. i., p. 243.

i6 Memorials of Old Shropshire

that the county also benefited in another way by his
administrative ability. A comparison of the Hundreds of
Shropshire, as they appear in Domesday, and as they
existed a century later, shows that there had been wise
revision and re-arrangement of their boundaries^ by which
their administration was rendered more easy. It cannot,
indeed, be proved that this was actually the work of
Henry, but it was at least work which would be congenial
to one who gained the name of Beaudeic by his learning
and acquirements ; and he knew the county so intimately
that he might well choose it for the exercise of his adminis*
trative skill

In II 35, however, Henry died, and twenty years of
anarchy followed, in which Shropshire bore its share of
suffering. The right to the throne was contested between
Matilda, or Maud, the daughter of Henry, and Stephen
of Blois, the grandson of the Conqueror through the female
line; and this disputed succession gave an opportunity
for a display of all the worst features of the feudal system.
Barons everywhere erected castles, which became centres
of oppression and lawlessness, which there was no central
power with sufficient authority to control. Most of the
Shropshire nobles seem to have espoused the cause of
Matilda. The castles of Ellesmere, Whittington, Ludlow,
and Shrewsbury are all mentioned as garrisoned for the
Empress, and of these Shrewsbury sustained a si^[e in
1 138 by Stephen himself, who succeeded in capturing it,
and he put Ae garrison to the sword He had not, how-
ever, the tact to reap any advantages from his success, and
at last, in utter weariness, an agreement was come to by
whidi Stephen should hold the crown for his life, but that
it should then pass to Henry, the son of Matilda.

The anarchy was productive of two good results: the
need of a refuge for the weak led to the development of
monastic life and a htge increase of religious houses ; and
the insecurity of the country led to the enlargement of
the towns, and their growth in importance and influence.

General Story of the Shire 17

Neither development, indeed, was an unmixed good, but
for the time the one secured a home for piety and learn-
ing, and the other laid the foundation of liberty and trade.

J^ PLAI^4TAGENET

Henry II. succeeded to the throne in 11 54. The diffi-
culties which confronted him were enough to daunt the
spirit of a man as youi^ as he was at the time^ but they
only served to bring out the force that was latent in his
character. His first work was to lessen the power of the
barons by reducing the number of their castles. Among
those who resisted the king's wishes in this respect was
Hugh de Mortimer, who held castles at Cleobury Mortimer
and Bridgnorth in this county, and Wigmore just over the
Herefordshire border. Henry laid siege to these in turn,
and Mortimer made his submission at Bridgnorth in
July, 1155.

Meanwhile the Welsh were becoming increasingly
troublesome, and from this period till their final subjuga-
tion by Edward I., the records of Shropshire are largely
concerned with their incursions, and the efforts made to
keep them under control.

Henry II. was in North Wales in 11 57, and in South
Wales the year following, and he mada a further expedition
against his troublesome neighbours in 1165, but none of
these efforts achieved more than a partial and temporary
success. The same may be said of the efforts of John
and of Henxy III. In the reigns of both these last
mentioned, the prince who ruled in North Wales was
Llewelyn ap lorwerth, known as Llewelyn the Great;
and though John endeavoured to attach him to himself by
giving him his natural daughter Joan in marriage, he
continued to be a scourge to Shropshire as long as he
lived The Welsh supported the baions in extorting from
John the Magna Charta at Runnymede^ but Shrewsbury
continued loyal to the kii^, probably in part from the fact
C

1 8 Memorials of Old Shropshire

that he had conferred on the town no less than three
charters. Llewelyn marched against it, and took
possession of it, but only held it for a few months. It
was destined, however, again to feel that prince's power
at a later period. One of the last acts of his reign was
to lay waste the surrounding country up to its very
gates.

So matters went on till the sceptre fell from the weak
hands of Henry III., and passed into those of Edward L
The chief power in Wales at this time was wielded by
Llewel)ai ap GrufiEydd, a grandson of Llewelyn the Great,
of whom he was a worthy descendant He had measured
swords with Edward during the rebeUion of Simon de
Montfort, before his accession to the throne, and had
shown himself an adversary worthy of his steel When
Edward became king, Llewel)ai first delayed, and at last
refused, to do homage, and Edward marched against him,
and with the co-operation of his brother David, effected
his submission. As the result^ however, of the attempt to
introduce English law and custom into Wales, rebdlion
again broke out under the joint leadership of Llewel)m
and David, the latter having forsworn his allegiance to
the king. Edward determined once for all to crush the
turbulence of Wales, and he succeeded Llewelyn fell in
an obscure skirmish near Builth, and a few months later,
in June, 1283, David was betrayed into the king's hands,
and sent in chains to Shrewsbury. Here a parliament was
called to consider his case, and he was sentenced to be
executed with various marks of barbarity. This Shrews-
bury parliament is, however, chiefly famous as marking
a great step in constitutional government For the
first time representatives of the Commcms took part in
the deliberations by legal authority. During its session
in Shrewsbury the king probably stayed at Acton Bumell
with his friend and chancellor, Robert Bumell, Bishop of
Bath and Wells, and when the parliament had dealt with
David, its meeting was adjourned to Acton Bumell itself.

General Story of the Shire 19

where it passed an important statute dealing with the
recovery of debts.

Edward followed up the subjugation of Wales by
the erection of a large number of border castles, of which
the ruins of many still survive. These served the double
purpose of overawing the Welsh and protecting the Eng-
lish who were encouraged to settle among them, and their
ruins are an abiding memorial that the power of Wales
as an independent nation was permanently crushed

The century which followed the death of Edward I.
was comparatively imeventful to Shropshire, but in 1403
it again came into notice. Political aflfairs were at the
time in a very unsettled condition. The Scots were
causing trouble in the north, and Owen Glyndwr was in
rebellion in Wales, while the tenure of the crown by
Henry IV. had on it the taint of usurpation. In July of
that year, the Percys, who had been the mainstay of
Hemy*s power in the north, threw off their alliance and
marched southward against hint Their forces, led by
Hotspur, son of the Earl of Northumberland, met those
of the king near Shrewsbury, and on the spot now marked
by the church of Battlefield, a fierce contest took place.
The result was a great victory for the king. Hotspur was
himself slain, with an unusually large number of distin-
guished men on both sides, and a blow was struck at
feudalism from which it never wholly recovered. The
interest of the battle of Shrewsbury will, however, always
find its centre not in prose, but in verse ; not in the pages
of the chronicler, but in those of the dramatist. Shake-
speare has immortalized the contest in his Henry IV,, and
by his creation of the character of Falstaff has g^ven us
a fictitious hero who is better known than the real heroes
of the fight Those who remember little about the king
or Hotspur are well acquainted with the deeds and say-
ings of that fat and doughty knight

After another half century of tranquillity, the county
was called to bear its part in the Wars of the Roses.

20 Memorials of Old Shropshire

Richard, Duke of York, the father of Edward IV., paid
several visits to Shropshire, and was so great a favourite
in Shrewsbury that his statue, which now fills a niche in
the Old Market Hall, was set up over the gate which
gave admission at the Welsh Bridge. At the time of his
death, his son Edward was staying in Shrewsbury, and it
was from thence he marched southward, and by his victory
over the Lancastrian forces at Mortimer's Cross, near
Ludlow, secured for himself possession of the throne.

After a troubled reign of twenty-two years,
Edward IV. died in 1483, and his power passed into the
hands of his son, a child of eleven. The reign of *
Edward V., as might be expected from the temper of the
times, was merely nominal Before three months had
elapsed, his uncle Richard usurped the throne, and the boy
king, along with his little brother (who had been bom at
Shrewsbury), was smothered in the Tower of London.
Richard III., however, was not long to enjoy his usurped
authority. Henry, Earl of Richmond, claimed the throne,
and in August, 1485, landed at Milford Haven to assert
his claim. Thence he directed his course to Shrewsbury,
where he slept at the house near the top of the Wyle
Cop, which still remains, and so on to Bosworth Field,
where Richard was defeated and slain, and he succeeded
as Henry VIL, the first king of the House of Tudor.

(4) TUDOR

During this period the history of Shropshire mainly
centres in two movements, one wholly political, vt^^ other
both political and religious; the former was the founda-
tion and develojMnent of the Court of the Marches, the
latter was the movement which we know as the
Reformation. Each of these will form a subject of
treatment in another part of this volume, and so it
will be sufficient in Uiis place to mention that the
Court of the Marches had its or^pb in the reig^ of

General Story of the Shire 21

Edward IV., who appointed a council to assist his
son as Prince of Wales, which should curb the power
of the Lords Marchers and secure justice for the Welsh.
It was consolidated and made a permanent institution
by Henry VII., whose eldest son Arthur held coiut
at Ludlow with his bride Katharine of Arragon. The
best known of those who filled the office of President
of the Council were Rowland Lee, Bishop of Coventry and
Lichfield, who was appointed in 1534, and who, on his
de^th at Shrewsbury, in 1542, was buried in St Chad's
Church ; and Sir Henry Sidney, appointed in 1559, whose
son, Sir Philip Sidney, was one of the distinguished
alumni of Shrewsbury School. The Court lasted till
1689, but for some considerable period before that date
had lost its original importance.

(5) STUART AND HANOVERIAN

Shropshire had its fuQ share in the incidents of the
Civil War between Charles I. and the Parliament, and
the Oak at Boscobel, within its boundaries — as recorded
in an inscription at its base — *' had the honour of shelter-
ing from his foes his Majesty King Charles II." after the
battle of Worcester. As this period, however, will also
receive a special record in another part of the volume, any
detailed account of the strife is omitted here. Suffice it
to say that in the early years of the contest, at any rate,
Shropshire for the most part was Royalist Charles I. paid
a visit to Shrewsbury almost immediately after raising his
standard at Nottingham, in August, 1642, and evidently
regarded the county as one of those in which his cause
was strongest The castles and country houses were
nearly all garrisoned — the majority for the kin^ — but
various causes combined to weaken his hold, and in spite
of the brilliant exploits of Prince Rupert and the more
solid work of men like Sir Francis Ottley, the Governor
of Shrewsbury, the Royalist cause gradually lost ground

Memorials of Old Shrch^hire

till the battle of Worcester made its ruin for a while
comi^ete.

In due time, however, came the reaction, and in
1660 Charles IL was called to his ancestral throne amid
the acclamations of the people. Their hopes were not
destined to be wholly realized, for want of tact was bound
up in the very nature of the Stuarts, but it remained for
James II. to exhibit this characteristic in the form most

Stokesay Castlk.

objectionable to the English people. By his own change
of religion, and by his arbitrary measures, carried out by
men like Judge Jeffreys, he aroused a jealousy for the
liberties of the nation, which was only satisfied by his
exile.

Shropshire did not feel the immediate effects of
these changes to any marked degree. Shrewsbury was
one of the towns from which, at the dose of the reign

General Story of the Shire 23

of Charles II., was demanded the surrender of its
charter, and this was returned by James in a form
which provoked strong feeling against his claim to
arbitrary power, but it was also one of the towns which
he honoured with a personal visit JeflEreys, too, was
connected with the coimty. He was educated at Shrews-
bury School, where there exists a portrait much more
pleasing than might be expected from his character and
actions, and it was as Baron of Wem thait he was raised
to the peerage. He does not^ however, appear to have
ever made it his home.

Since the Revolution the story of the shire has been
for the most part imeventfuL The Court of the Marches,
as already mentioned, was abolished in 1689, and gradually
everything which gave a distinct mark to the public life
of the county passed away. But it has maintained a
character of its own all through, as is easily recognized
by any who have lived both in Shropshire and in other
parts of the midlands or the north. Local life and local
feeling have been, and still are, strong in Shropshire.
This has arisen partly from its distance from the Metro-
polis, and it showed itself especially in the eighteenth
century. Then the towns, and particularly Shrewsbury
and Ludlow^ had each its own season, for which the county
families went into residence, as they now go to London.
As a tourist, who stayed at Ludlow in 1773, said of that
town, there were to be found there " abundance of pretty
ladies," "provisions extremely plentiful and cheap," and
"very good company."^ Since thaf period Shropshire
has been brought into closer contact with the outer world,
firstly by the rise of coaches, and more recently by that of
raflways, but — in conjunction to some extent with the two
neighbouring shires of Chester and Hereford — it has
maintained its individuality more than most counties.
Bishop Creighton showed his usual true historic insfinct

lSal0fi€m Skrids and Paiekit, vol. i., p. 104. For the social life
of the county town, e/, the Author's Skrewslmryf pp. 213-244.

24 Memorials of Old Shropshire

as well as his knowledge of facts when he said of
Shropshire: —

It shows the growth of ftgricnltiiral prosperity in a fertile district,
which became prosperous as soon as it was freed from disorder. It shows
how the baronial dvilisation of early times gave way before the changed
conditions of the country which began in the reigns of the Tudor Kings.
It still bears on its surface the traces of the gradual progress of English
society in a region where local life was strong, and where its course had
been but sfightly affected by the development of modem industry, which
m other counties has nearly obliterated the records of the past.l

Thomas Auden.

1 Creighton, Some English Shires, p. 209.

THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF
THE TOWNS

By Henrietta M. Auden, F.RHist.S.

IMES have changed since the days when the
Roman city of Uriconium probably represented
the only town within the limits of what is now
the county of Salop. If there were other con-
siderable centres of population in the district they have
completely vanished and left no trace behind. The Saxon
invaders swept away the relics of Roman civilization, and
in their dread of magical influences avoided the sites of
the Roman villas and towns. Refugees from Uriconium
established themselves where Shrewsbury now stands
defended by the curve of the Severn, and for about a
hundred years Pengwem was an outpost of the Celt
against the Saxon. After its conquest by Offa it still
retained its importance, but the Anglo-Saxon borough was
not much more than a village on a larg^er scale. The
burgesses of Shrewsbury had their fields to till and cattle
to herd, and the diggings of foundations have gone to
show that cattle were watered where now the Post Office
stands, and a farmyard occupied the site of the Shire HalL
Men met at the town for market in time of peace, and
in time of war they could take refuge within the fortified
peninsula. The burgesses were the king's men, and held
their town by service of guarding the king when he came
to Shrewsbury. Twelve burgesses of the better sort kept
watch over him, and when he went hunting, those that

26 Memorials of Old Shropshire

had horses went with him. The Sheriff sent thirty-six
men to drive the game for the king, and when the hunt
was in Marsley Park, they were boimd for eight days
to serve there.

At the time of the Domesday survey of England, in
1086, only eighty towns are mentioned, of which Shrews-
bury is one. None of the other Shropshire towns were
then more than villages, unless it were Ludlow, and though
there are coins extant minted at Ludlow, the Domesday
record makes no mention of its status as a borough. The
account of Shrewsbury, on the other hand, is very com-
plete, and tells us that there were three " moneyers " there,
and what they paid to the king ; what dues were paid by
the burgesses ; and how, when the king left the town, the
sheriff sent twenty-four horses with him as far as Leint-
wardine if he went south, or the first stage in Staffordshire
if he went that way.

Lender the Norman Earl, Roger de Montgomery, a
kinsman of the Conqueror, the castle was enlarged, the
site of fifty houses being given up to it Fifty more
houses lay waste in 1086 ; forty-three were inhabited by
" f rancigeni," who do not seem to have paid the same
taxes as the '' Angligeni," and thirty-nine burgesses had
been given by the Earl to the Abbey he had just founded.
The calculation in Domesday says that there were 193
houses which paid nothing out of the 252 of which Shrews-
bury consisted in the days of Edward the Confessor. The
population of the Saxon town can hardly have reached
1,300 souls, but there were four churches within the borough
and a fifth just outside its area. To this town, already
possessing an important place in the life of the coimty.
Earl Roger added not only a castle that might at the same
time protect and overawe the burgesses, but also a great
abbey at their gates. Later times saw the erection of a
strong town wall of stone and the steady growth of
municipal life, but that we have not space to fully
chronicle.

The Origin and Evolution of the Towns 27

Shrewsbury thus existed before either castle or abbey,
and was comparatively little aflfected by their proximity.
The influence of the Abbot was mainly confined to the
suburb of the Abbey Foregate, where the inhabitants were
chiefly his tenants, and the castle, passing from the hands
of the Norman earls to those of the king, was frequently
entrusted to his faithful burgesses. Robert de Belesme,
the last Norman earl, is credited with building the first
stone wall of Shrewsbury, but it was not till the town had
passed from his hands to those of the king that we hear
of much progress in the town's prosperity. Henry I.
diminished the heavy rent paid by the burgesses, and
granted them many privileges, which were confirmed by
his great-grandson. King John, in his first charter to the
town. Shrewsbury was visited by Henry I. in time of
peace, and by Stephen in time of war, when he besieged
and took the castle. Henry II. was there more than
once, and ratified the privileges given by Henry I., and we
learn from Giraldus Cambrensis that some degree of
comfort was to be found in Shrewsbury in 1188, when
he and Archbishop Baldwin came there to rest themselves
after their Welsh joumeyings.

In the reign of Richard I. the burgesses were allowed
to hold the town under the king by a yearly rent of forty
marks of silver, and King John in his second charter
authorized their plan of self-government by two provosts
chosen from among the burgesses, and a common council.
A third charter of King John further confirmed the status
of the town, and probably the burgesses felt that the
privileges were weB worth the hundred marks that were
paid for the charters. In 1209 we see a trace of the trade
of the town in an ordinance forbidding the sale in the
town of raw hides or undressed doth except by those
assized and talliaged with the burgesses.

The wars with Wales made royal visits to Shrewsbury
of frequent occurrence, and the Castle still shows the
round towers that marked the military architecture of

28 Memorials of Old Shropshire

the reign of Edward I. On September 30th, 1283, in
the Parliament summoned by Edward I. to meet at Shrews-
bury, there were one hundred and ten earls and barons,
two knights from each shire, and two deputies each from
twenty of the principal towns of the kingdom, of which
Shrewsbury was one. The Parliament condemned David,
Prince of Wales, to death, and then adjourned to Acton
BumelL After the submission of Wales, the town lost in
military importance, but gained in civil, though the popu-
lation continued small, judged from our modem standards.
In 13 1 3, 188 laymen were taxed in the town for the
fifteenth granted to the king. Only one ecclesiastic is
mentioned — the Prior of St John's Hospital ; so the popu-
lation apparently numbered, within the walls of the town
itself, not many more than one thousand. Nearly all those
burgesses taxed possessed live stock, horses, cattle, or
pigs, especially the latter, which down to the time of
Elizabeth ran at will in the streets^ and were probably
useful as scavengers.

The Gild Merchant of the town, which was in existence
before the close of the twelfth century, grew in power and
importance as time went on, and by degrees the separate
crafts possessed their own gilds, the chief among which
were tfiose of the Drapers and of the Shearmen, the
former of whom were merchants of Welsh cloth, and the
latter the preparers of it for the English market.

Under Richard II. the town made progress in self-
government, and probably a fire which in 1394 burnt
St Chad's Church and a considerable part of the town
caused the building of better houses than the borough
had before possessed. Three years later the king
adjourned a parliament from Westminster to Shrewsbury,
coming there from Lilleshall Abbey in state on January
29th, and remaining there till after the 6th of February.
The townsmen suffered much from the disorderly followers
of the king, and when Henry of Lancaster usurped the
throne they were among his earliest adherents. He had

The Origin and Evolution of the Towns 39

been present with the king at the Shrewsbury ParUa-
ment, and probably won popularity in the town at that
time.

From the days of Henry IV. onward the business of
the town prospered, and Shrewsbury perhaps attained its
greatest importance in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
The half-timbered houses of the latter date testify to the
prosperity of the townsmen, and more than one Shrews-
bury burgess bought a country estate and founded a
family. The reigns of the Tudors were times of pros-
perity, and the old Market Hall still stands as it was built
in 1 596. The Civil Wars injured the town in many ways,
and brought about the dismantling of the castle under
James II., and the eighteenth century saw the decline of
the trade in Welsh cloth, and the crystallising of the
town into what it now is : a centre of all county business,
and of much importance as a market for agricultural
produce, with social life of its own, and an atmosphere of
calm respectability and absence of bustle. Shrewsbury
is the embodiment of the word " town " to all the villages
rotmd about, but it stands completely apart from the
present-day ideal set forth in a busy manufacturing centre,
of which Birmingham, for instance, is an embodiment.

Ludlow. — Ludlow, though a town before the days of
the Conqueror, became overshadowed by the great
baronial castle founded within its precincts. There seems
little doubt that an early tumulus, from which its name
is derived, formed the centre of a Saxon town sufficiently
important to possess a mint, and that the fact mentioned in
Domesday that "Lude" possessed a bailiff {frapositus)
goes to show the existence of the borough in 1086. The
Domesday Book does not mention the castle, which was
probably built by Rogfer de Lacy soon after the compila-
tion of that record, though tradition assigns it to Earl
Roger de Montgomery. In the reign of Henry II. mention
is made of burgesses of Ludlow, and ih 1221 the town was

30 Memorials of Old Shropshire

represented at the Assizes by the Provost and twelve
jurors. Eleven years after this a plan was formed for
enclosing the town with a wall, and six years later the
borough is mentioned as possessing its court distinct from
that of Walter de Lacy, the lord of the castle. In 1260,
Geoffrey de Genevill, then lord of Ludlow, was empowered
to levy tolls for five years towards the walling of the
town.

The borough suffered a good deal at the hands of its
powerful neighbours, and the records of the thirteenth cen-
tury show not a few instances of trouble with the
retainers of the neighbouring barons. For example, on
St Laurence's Day (August loth), 1274, at Ludlow Fair,
three men, one the Beadle of Cleobury Mortimer, arrested
and wished to take to prison at Cleobury, Roger Tyrel,
the keeper of Galdeford Gate, In his capacity as gate-
keeper he had refused to let the men pass with the oxen
they had bought at the Fair unless they showed their
tallies. They set upon him, wounded him, and took away
his weapon, and were in the act of taking him with them
as a prisoner when the Bailiff of Ludlow and his Serjeants
came upon the scene. The Bailiff of Stottesdon Hun-
dred and his following took the side of the Cleobury men,
and tried to arrest the Bailiff of Ludlow when he ordered
Roger to be released Altogether we have the picture of
a very stormy fair day, and do not envy the gate-keeper
his post

The chief trade of Ludlow was doth, and one of the
first burgesses of Shropshire who built himself a house
and acquired an estate in the country was Laurence de
Ludlow, who, having made a fortune as a cloth merchant
in that town, bought Stokesay. He received the royal
license to crenellate it (1.^., make it a fortified manor
house) in 1290. The prosperity of Ludlow probably
began in the twelfth century, for in 1199 the church
was considered too small for the town. Apparently the
first church had been a little Saxon sanctuary built to

The Origin and Evolution of the Towns 31

Christianise the mound that had been a place of mark in
heathen times. Mediaeval clergy had little regard for the
works of those who had lived before them, and in order
to lengthen their church to the eastward they carted away
the tumulus, and finding in it three early interments, pro-
nounced the bodies to be those of Irish saints, and placed
them in triumph in their new church. Probably the fact
of the De Lacy lords of Ludlow having estates in Ireland
accounted for the supposed nationality of the saints.

The formation of the Court of the Marches imder
Edward IV. tended to make the town more and more an
appanage of the castle, holding the same relation to it
in its degree as the town of Windsor does to Windsor
Castle.

Leland, in the first half of the sixteenth century, gives
a long description of Ludlow, and speaks of it as "fair-
walled " with five gates ; and Camden says that there " the
Lord President doth keep his Courts, which seldom slacken
in business:"

Bridgnorth.— The first borough to be founded in
Shropshire after the Conquest was at Quatford, where
Roger de Montgcnnery, at the request of his second wife,
the Coimtess Addiza, built a church in honour of St. Mary
Magdalene, and a house for himself, with a town roimd
about them. This foundation lasted barely forty years
before it was transferred to Bridgnorth, which was founded
by Earl Robert de Belesme in 1102, when he built the
castle there and transferred to that site the castle and
borough his father, Earl Roger, had founded at Quatford
in the manor of Erdington. The neighbourhood had seen
an encampment of the Danes in the winter of 896, and
Ethelfleda, the Lady of Mercia, had built a castle in 913
at Oldbury, the mound of which still remains. The
chronicler, Florence of Worcester, says that men worked
night and day to build the Castle of Bridge (Brug), and
in 1 102 it was strong enough to stand siege from the

Memorials of Old Shropshire

king's forces for thirty days. After the fall of Earl
Robert, Brug passed into the king^s hands, and remained
a royal fortress for the greater part of its existence.

The borough did not grow up under the shadow of the
castle, but was transferred, with what inhabitants and
privileges it already possessed, from Quatfoid. Orderi-
cus, in his accoimt of the fact, calls it a town (pppidum\
and the Domesday record of Quatford speaks of a borough

From am]

Bridgnorth.

{Old Engrmmmg,

ipurgus) there. Henry I. attached the town to himself by
the grant of various privil^^es, which were recognised in
1 1 57 by his grandson Henry II. in a charter recited in
subsequent grants. Two years later the only Shropshire
towns that were assessed for a gift (donum) to the king
were Shrewsbury and Biug, the former paying fifty and
the latter ten marks. The following year Shrewsbury,
Brug, and Newport paid forty, twelve, and one-and-a-half

The Origin and Evolution of the Towns 33

marks respectively for another similar donum. Before
the end of the twelfth century the burgesses freed them-
selves from the control of the Sheriff of Shropshire, and
became responsible to the king for the annual ferm of
ten marks (£6 13s. 4d) from the town. In addition to
this yearly sum, the towns were constantly required to pay
levies to the kii^ to meet special exigencies. These
tallages seem to have been generally assessed at the rate
of Shrewsbury paying three times as much as Brug,
which is probably an indication of their relative size and
importance. In 121 5, the burgesses were allowed wood
out of Morf Forest for the fortification of their town, and
in 1220 they had a grant of tolls for four years, being
allowed to charge ^ on every Shropshire cart bringing
articles into the town for sale, and id. on a cart from any
other county. Other tolls are also mentioned on pack-
horses, cattle and barges. About this time the burgesses
had a long quarrel with those of Shrewsbury as to their
right of buying undressed cloth and raw hides in Shrews-
bury, the Shrewsbury burgesses being anxious to restrict
the privilege to themselves.

The Borough is mentioned in 1222 as ruled by two
bailiffs, or provosts. The next year the bailiffs of Bristol
were ordered by Henry III. to allow the burgesses of Brug
all the privileges granted them by the charter of his father.
In 1226, the king, having just left Bridgnorth for Kidder-
minster, granted the town a fair on the eve, the day, and
the morrow of St. Luke's Day (October i8th). This
grant was to hold till the king came of age, which he
did the following year, when he gave a new charter, recog-
nizing many privileges of the town, and granting them
a Gild Merchant, with the clause that if any man bom a
serf should come to live and hold land in the borough,
and be a member of the Gild, and pay lott and scat/ with
the burgesses for a year and a day without being claimed
by his lord, he should be free in the borough. The bur-
gesses were to be free of tolls throughout the king's

34 Memorials of Old Shropshire

dominions^ and to hold the royal mill of Pendleston on
the Worf for ever at a rent of £io yearly. In 123 1 the
burgesses received payment for the carriage of forty casks
of wine for the king to Castle Matilda in North Wales,
and for unloading the rest of the King's wine and storing
it at Brug. In 1256 the borough had two charters from
the king, giving the burgesses further privileges in
managing their own a£Eairs, probably as a reward for their
loyalty to the king in the struggle with Simon de Mont-
fort In 1 32 1 the castle was taken and held by the barons
against Edward II., but soon after wa$ retaken by the
king, who five years later took refuge there from his
enemies.

The trade of Bridgnorth seems to have flourished
throughout mediaeval times^ but in the reign of Elizabeth
a change in fashion appears to have affected it, and in
1571 an Act of Parliament was passed to enforce the wear-
ing of woollen caps, because by the going out of use of such
headgear was brought about the " decay, ruin and desola-
tion of divers antient Cities and Boroughs which had been
the nourishers and bringers-up in that faculty of great
numbers of people, as London, also Exeter, Bristowe,
Monmouth, Hereford, Rosse and Bridgnorth."

During the years of peace of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries the Market and Town Hall stood before the
north gate outside the walls, but when the Civil War
broke out in 1642, it was pulled down lest it should inter-
fere with the defences of the town, and its successor, the
present Town Hall, was finished during the Common-
wealth.

In addition to the fair on St. Luke's Day, the town had
the grant from Edward III. of a four days* fair on the
feast of the Translation of St Leonard and the three days
following (November 6th).

Leland describes the walls of Bridgnorth as being all
in ruins, and in his account says: — "The Towne stood
by Cloathing, and that now decayed, the Towne sore

The Origin and Evolution or the Towns 35

decayed therewith." Camden only mentions its history
as a fortress. In 1764 it is called a "large and populous
town,** and a "place of great trade, both by laod and
water " ; while in 1720 the town is said to be '' as famous
for making stockings as any in the kingdom/' and to be
weU supplied with "all sorts of artificers, and is very
famous for gun-making." Its position on the Severn
brought it much trade in the days when all heavy carriage
was conveyed by water, and at the beginning of the nine-
teenth century a considerable amount of boat-building
was carried on there.

Oswestry. — ^The town of Oswestry, if not actually
of Norman foundation, owes its status as a borough
to the Norman castle built soon after the Conquest. It
is a little uncertain when Oswestry was founded.
Tradition gives it a Welsh origin, but probably it
does not go back to a date earlier than the king
whose name it bears, who was killed in battle in 642.
Domesday does not mention the place by name, but
teDs us diat the large manor of Maesbury (Meresberie)
was held by Rainald the Sheriff, and that it had a
church and a priest, and a castle work (Castellum Luure),
and was head of the Hundred of Mersete. We gather
from the record that on the spot hallowed in the
popular mind by the death of St Oswald, Warin, the
Norman Sheri£F of Shropshire, had founded a stronghold
and a town, where Welshmen were dwelling peaceably
with their Saxon and Norman neighbours under the
shadow of the church of St. Oswald and the control of
the Norman castle. Warin the sheriff was dead in 1086,
but before his death he gave to the Abbey of Shrewsbury
the church of St Oswald and the tithes of that town
(yillae). The castle was built by Warin's successor,
Rainald, and in 1086 the manor was valued annually at
the then large sum of 40s., though in the time of King
Edward the Confessor it had been waste The position

36 Memorials of Old Shropshire

of Oswestry on the Welsh border brought a chequered
existence to the town, for in the reign of Henry I. it
was for some time held by the Princes of Powis, one of
whom in 1148 built, or rather rebuilt, the castle.

In II 60 William FitzAlan died lord of Oswestry, or
Blanchminster, as it was often styled in the twelfth cen-
tury, when apparently its stately church was new, and
stood a white stone building backed by the timber houses
of the town. Much money was spent on the castle during
the latter half of the twelfth century, and its upkeep was
a heavy charge on its lords, the FitzAlans. In 1175, the
ordinary garrison there consisted of a knight, two watch-
men, two porters, and twenty men-at-arms. In 12 16, when
King John, in anger at his barons' defiant attitude,
ravaged the west of England, he burnt the town of
Oswestry, but apparently could not take the castle. In
1228, mention is made of an annual four days' fair at
Oswestry, and probably by that time the town was rebuilt
Some thirty years later John FitzAlan proposed to wall the
town, and had a grant of tolls for five years, but the
walls seem to have been unfinished in 1283, for King
Edward I. in that year gave the bailiffs and burgesses
permission to levy special duties for twenty years for the
completion and repair of the town walls. In 1294-5
Oswestry was taken by the Welsh prince Madoc, but it
did not remain long in his hands, as on June 24th, 1295,
King Edward was himself at Oswestry. In 1302, at the
death of Richard, Earl of Arundel, the castle was said to
be of no value to his estate because of the great expense
of its maintenance.

Unlike Ludlow Castle, that of Oswestry seems to have
never become anytiiing more than a fortress, nor of
greater importance than the borough beside it The
burgesses were mainly of Welsh extraction, and on the
cessation of the border wars the town flourished and
became an important centre of trade. It was annexed by

The Oiugin and Evolution of the Towns 37

Richard II. to the Principality of Chester, but the change
seems to have been only nominal

Leland gives a long account of Oswestry, and tells us
that there were no towers on the walls except those at
the gates, and that the town was moated, with running
water in its ditch. He says the "Towne standith most
by Sale of Cloth made in Wales." He also calls
Whittington a town, but describes it as a ''village in a
valley," containing a hundred houses. If this is correct,
it was a very large village for Shropshire in the sixteenth
century.

Camden, half a centtuy later, speaks of Oswestry as a
little town enclosed with a wall and a ditch, and fortified
with a small castle. "Tis a place of good traffic, for
Welsh Cottons especially, which are of a very fine, thin,
or (if you will) slight texture ; of which great quantities
are weekly vended here." The old gazetteer of 1764,
England Illustrated, mentions this trade as being then
quite decayed, and the town as poorly built

Oswestry sufiFered from disastrous fires in 1542 and
1567. In the latter year two hundred houses are said to
have been burnt down, which possibly accounts for this
lack of stately buildings. The opening of the coach
route from London to Holyhead brought renewed im-
portance to Oswestry, and in 18 10 it is described as a
" flourishing little town," in whose market many webs of
cloth made in Denbighshire were sold, which after being
dyed were used " to supply clothing for the slaves in the
West Indies and South .^erica."

Clun. — The Barons of Oswestry were also lords of
another border town, namely, Clun. The manor of Clun
was important and valuable in Saxon times, and tmder
King Edward the Confessor it was annually worth £2^
to its lord, Edric Sylvaticus. During the troubled years
following the Norman Conquest, Edric's estates suffered
severely, and the jrearly value of Qun fell to £/^ The

38 Memorials of Old Shropshire

manor was conferred by William the Conqueror on the
Norman Picot de Say, who enfeofiFed three of his knights
there, but kept the greater part of the land in his own
hands. The Domesday record tells us that there was
araUe land sufficient for sixty teams, but in 1086 only
twelve teams were being employed. There were several
Welshmen among the tenants at that time, four of whom
together paid a rent of 2s. 4d. There is no mention of
either church or priest, though there is little doubt that
the district had a church in Saxon times. Possibly the dedi-
cation to the warrior saint, St George, tends to prove that
Clun Church was founded by a Norman baron. We have
the first documentary trace of its existence in a deed of the
latter half of the twelfth century, when Isabella de Say,
lady of Clun, gave the church and its chapels to Wenlock
Priory. The chapels then mentioned are : St Thomas of
Clun, St Swithin of Clunbury, St. Mary of Qunton,
St. Mary of Hopton, St Mary of Waterdene, and the
chai)els of Edgton and Sibdon.

The castle of Clun seems to have been built within the
earthworks of an earlier stronghold In 11 60 it was
among the possessions of William FitzAlan (I.), who had
married Isabella, the heiress of the De Says, and from
that time onwards it is frequently mentioned In 1195
it is said to have been stormed and burnt by the Welsh.
Isabella's son, William FitzAlan (II.), in 1204 received
the grant from King John of a three days* fair at Qun on
St Martin's Day (November nth) and the two days
following. During the thirteenth century Clun cannot
have had very peaceful surroundings, but the town was
important as a centre for markets and fairs. In 1272,
during the long minority of Richard FitzAlan, a valuation
was taken at Clun Castle of the manor. The three com-
missioners and twelve jurors reported that: —

Clun Castle was small, but pretty well built. The roof of tke tower
wanted covering with lead, and the bridge needed repairing. Outside
the Castle was a Bailey, enclosed with a fosse, and a certain Gate in the

OLD BRIDGE AT. CLUN

The Origin and Evolution of the Towns 39

Castle wall thereabouts, had been begun (but not finished). The build-
iogs in the said Bailey, viz., a grange, a stable, and a bakehouse were in
a weak state. In the town of Clun were i88 burgesses, and 22 burgesses
had tenements in the assartsl of the manor. Clun Market, held on
Saturdays, produced jf 10 /«r awu(m.2 Two fairs of three days each were
held at Martinnias (Not. ii) and at the feast of SS. Pancras, Nereus,
and Achilles (May la). They realised £6 per annum.

There were pleas of the Free Court mentioned, and
pleas and perquisites of the Portmote (i.^., the borough
court): —

Robert the Clerk paid the rent for his Smithy in 24 horse shoes or lad,
and certain of the Burgesses were bound to provide ao men, each to
accompany the lord of Clun four days yearly on his hunting excursions.

In 1302 the castle was said to be worth no more than
the cost of its maintenance. In the town of Clun there
were eighty-five burgesses who paid a rent to the lord.
There were two water-mills at Clun, one of which had
been in existence apparently in 1086, as Domesday
alludes to a mill there "serving the court" (servtens
Curiae), but we can only guess what is meant by the
court In 1326, Edmund, Earl of Arundel, confirmed to
his bui^esses of Clun all the privileges they had enjoyed
under his ancestors, and pardoned them for having sworn
fealty to Roger de Mortimer when he had visited Clun
Castle. We find no mention of any wish to wall the town
of Clun, though the borough had its independent life out-
side the fortifications of the castle.

Leland makes no mention of a town here, but speaks
of the castle as having been both strong and well-built,
but somewhat ruinous in his day. Clun is not on the list
of the market towns given in 1764, though it must have
then been a centre of population. There was at one time
a considerable amount of weaving done here, and the site
of the fulling mills for cloth is still remembered. It
finally ceased to be a borough in 1886.

1 Assarts are clearings in the forest.

2 Equivalent to about ^^300 a year in modem currency.

40 Memorials of Old Shropshire

RUYTON. — The Earls of Arundel had another boroi^h
in Shropshire in Ruyton-XI.-Towns, where in 131 1
Edmund, Earl of Arundel, had a grant from Edward IL
of a market on Wednesdays, and a yearly fair on the eve,
the day, and three days after the Nativity of St John the
Baptist (June 24th).

The Earl had a little before this time obtained from
the Canons of Haughmond seven burgages they had built
in the " new vill of Rutone," on land given to them by one
of the le Strange family. He seems to have rebuilt the
small castle at Ruyton, which is said to have been destroyed
by the Welsh in 1202, and to have planned the borough as
an appanage of his castle. He gave the burgesses free-
dom from tolls throughout his lands ; leave to use the laws
of Breteuil, and to form a Gild merchant, and the right
of freedom for anyone who had held land and paid scot
and lot with the burgesses for a year and a day. The
borough seems never to have greatly flourished, and
though its charter was confirmed in 1429, its trade seems
to have been absorbed by the more important towns of
Oswestry and Shrewsbury. In 1640 a mace was presented
by Richard Kinaston, which, with the copy of the charter
now forms almost the only trace of its dignity as a borough.

Church Stretton. — In the fourteenth century the
Earls of Arundel became lords of yet another town
in Shropshire — Church Stretton. This had been an
important manor in Saxon times^ when it belonged to
Edwin, Earl of Mercia. It suflFered during the Norman
Conquest, and its annual value fell from ^^13 to
£S- In 1086, the manor of 8 hides had a considerable
population with a priest, a church, and a mill The
Domesday record makes no mention of a castle though the
earthwork on the Castle HiD at All Stretton, and probably
some fortification on the hiD where Brockhurst Castle
afterwards stood, defended the Dale in very early times.
In the twelfth century Stretton was in the hands of the

The Oiugin and Evolution of the Towns 41

king, and possessed a Royal Castle under the care of a
Castellan.

In 1 2 14 King ]chn ordered the Sheriff of Shropshire
to advertise a weekly market at Stretton and a yearly fair
on the feast day of the Assun^tion (August loth). The
men of " Strettondale " frequently accounted to the King
themselves for the dues of the Manor. The Castle of
Stretton was repaired in I238» but in less than twenty
years later it had apparently been dismantled, as the
Provost and Jurors of the Manor then reported that there
was no castle, and that the Sheriff of Shropshire had
ordered four men to let dry the king's fishponds, and had
sold the fish. In a valuation of Stretton made in 1309,
there is no mention of any town dues, and the modem
status of Church Stretton seems to have grown out of
its convenient situation as a market for the surrounding
coimtry. The manor, after being held under the king by
a variety of overlords, was given in 1336 by Edward III.
to Richard, Earl of Arundel, and remained in that family
tin the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

In the time of James I., Bonham Norton, Sheriff of
Shropshire in 161 1, was one of the chief men in Church
Stretton, though his earlier life was connected with
London, where he was King's Printer to Charles I. In
1614-5, he obtained from the king the confirmation of a
grant made in 1337 by Edward III. to the Earl of Arundel
of a weekly market on Thursdays, and a yearly fair on
the eve, the day, and the morrow of Holy Cross Day
(September 14th). Bonham Norton also built a half-
timbered market house for the town, which unhappily
was taken down in 1839, greatly to the detriment of the
picturesqueness of the place.

Leland calls Church Stretton a " Townlett," the same
word that he uses for Pontesbury and for Hodnet
Camden calls it a little town, and in 1764 it is ranked
among the market towns, and said to have a good com
market

42 Memorials of Old Shropshire

Whitchurch.— Whitchurch, like Oswestry and
Ludlow, appears in the Domesday Book under a
different name fron^ the one by which we now know
it It \yas then called Weston, and was held under
Earl Roger by William de Warren, a kinsman of the
Conqueror. It had been among the possessions of King
Harold, but seems to have passed to the Norman Earl
with little or no struggle, as it suffered no loss of
value in the change, but from £S annually in Saxon
times it had risen to ;f lo under the Norman rule. There
was a fairly numerous population on the 7^ hides of the
manor, but nothing that goes to show the existence of a
town. There is no mention of a fortress, but the manor
was probably held by King Harold and by William de
Warren as being important to the defence of the border.
A younger "branch of the Warrens held the manor in
the twelfth century, and in 1 199 the Sheriff of Shropshire
paid ten merks to the lord of Whitchurch for the " repair
and emendation of his Castle of Album Monasteriumr
We see from this that a stately church had been built,
and Weston had become known as White Minster. It is
not improbable that the great Earl William de Warren
and Gimnora his wife, who founded the Priory of Lewes
and that of Castle Acre, had provided a church for their
Shropshire tenantry. The dedication to St Alkmund is
difficult to account for in this case, but local tradition may
have associated Weston with the Saxon Prince, whose
death in battle was r^^rded as a martyrdom.

In 1240 there is mention of the Castle of Album
Monasterium, which was held by William, son of William
de Warren de Albo Monasterio. Thirteen years later, the
Abbot of Combermere accused William de Albo Monas-
terio and others of stealing his cattle, and the Abbot's
men in return were sued by Clemencia, widow of William
de Albo Monasterio, for the murder of her husband, the
Seneschal of William de Albo Monasterio, and she also
accused several of the monks of Combermere of violent

The Origin and Evolution of the Towns 43

conduct ordered by the Abbot Three men were outlawed
for the murder, but the abbot and monks were acquitted.

Some twenty years later the lordship of Whitchurch
was held by four heiresses. In the valuation of the estates
of the eldest, it was said to be held under the Earl Warren
by service of the Lord of Whitchurch doing duty as the
Earl's Huntsman "at the will and at the charges of the
said EarL"

There is at that time no mention of a grant of market
or fair, but in 1284 the lords of Whitchurch had a Free
G>urt twice yearly, a Gallows, a Market, Fair and Warren
there. These privileges were called in question eight
years later, when a charter from Richard I. was shown
granting the Wednesday's market, and the question of the
annual fair was dropped.

One of the heiresses of Whitchurch married Robert le
Strange as her first husband, and her son, Fulk le Strange,
succeeded to her share of the manor, and bought out the
other co-parceners. In 1324 he was lord of the whole
manor, and held it "by service of taking the venison
throughout Earl Warren's lands in England, at the charges
of the said Earl." The manor is mentioned as possessing
four mills, of which the mill of Whitchurch was to pay
six merks rent to Richard de Leylonde for his life. In
1362 a fair was granted at Whitchurch to be held on the
eve, the feast, and the morrow of St. Simon and St Jude
(October 28th). The sister of the last Lord Strange of
Blackmere married Sir Richard Talbot, father of the great
Earl of Shrewsbury, who was killed at Chatillon, and
whose bones rest in the Church of Whitchurch. The
Talbots sold their manor of Blackmere in the latter part
of the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

Leiand says that " the Toune of Whitchurch in Shrop-
shire hath a veri good market," and he notes twice over
that Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, was buried at Whit-
church. Camden also mentions the fact, and gives his

44 Memorials of Old Shropshire

epitaph. In 1764 it is described as a " pleasant large and
populous town, with a handsome church," and in 1824
the principal trade was said to be the " making shoes for
the Manchester market, and malting."

Shifnal. — ^The chief Shropshire property of the
Talbot family lay on the east side of the county, near
Shifnal and Albrighton. Shifnal, or rather Idsall, as it was
generally called in the Middle Ages, was a manor of the
Saxon Earls of Merda, and brought Earl Morcar ;£'i5 a
year. It passed to the Norman Earl Roger, but during the
troubles of the Conquest its value feU to 6s. In 1086 it
had recovered its original value in the hands of Robert
FitzTetbald, who held the manor under Earl Roger. On
the 7^ hides there were 36 teams, and a population of
26 serfs, 37 villeins, 3 bordars and 3 radmans, which, if
we calculate as each representing a household of five,
makes a number of nearly 350, in addition to which there
would possibly be servants of Robert Fitz-Tetbald on
his demesne land. The collegiate Saxon Church of
Idsall was probably ruined in the troubles, and not yet
restored in 1086, as Domesday makes no mention of either
church or priest. The manor wood was sufl&cient for
fattening three hundred swine, but the manor mill is not
mentioned The De Dunstanvills were lords of Shifnal in
the twelfth century, and the first Walter de Dunstanvill
about II 75 gave the Mill of Idsall to Wombridge Priory,
saving the right of free grinding for his own house, and for
others who had a similar right The third Walter de
Dunstanvill in 1244 had a grant of a market and fair at
IdsalL This right to a fair and market was called in
question some fifty years later, and in 13 15 a second
charter was given, allowing a market on Mondays and
Fridays, and two fairs, one on the eve, the day, and the
morrow of the feast of the Holy Trinity, and the other
on the eve, the day, and the morrow of Michaelmas. In
1470 this grant of a market and two fairs was renewed to

The Origin and Evolution of the Towns 45

John, Earl of Shrewsbury. The Earls of Shrewsbury
remained lords of the manor till 1606.

Leland makes no mention of a town of Shifnal, but
says that the Earls had here a '' Manor Place of Tymber
and a Parke/' where George, Earl of Shrewsbury, was
bom, and where James Talbot died from wounds received
in the battle of Northamptoa

The Lay Subsidy Roll of 1327 shows a large popula-
tion in Shifnal and its hamlets. Four of the inhabitants
are caUed "le Toumour," and probably represent the
makers of wooden cups and platters, an important
industry in the days when metal was costly and fine
pottery rare.

In 1592, Shifnal, like Newport and Oswestry, suffered
from a fire, which nearly destroyed the town, and did great
damage to the church.

The heyday of the prosperity of Shifnal was during
the coaching days, when it was the junction on the
Holyhead road for Madeley, Bridgnorth, Newport, and
their neighbourhood When the railway came this was
changed Its markets failed, with Wolverhampton on one
side and Wellington on the other, and its trade followed to
a great extent

Albrighton. — ^The later Earls of Shrewsbury had
an interest also in the borough of Albrighton, near
Wolverhampton, which has now ceased to carry the
status of a town. This was a small manor, before
the Conquest held by two Saxons, which was waste
when it came to Norman Venator, who held it under
Earl Rc^er. In 1086 it was valued at i6s. annually.
Norman Venator's heirs seem to have been the family
of De Pitchford, who held Albrighton till 1303, when
Ralph de Pitchford sold the manor to Sir John Tregoz,
of Ewyas Harold, in Herefordshire. Ralph de Pitch-
ford claimed the right of holding a market and fair
by a charter of Henry III. to his grandfather. In 13 13,

46 Memorials of Old Shropshire

John de la Warre, the heir by marriage of John Tregoz,
claimed a market on Tuesdays, and a four days' fair, but
the king's charter in answer to his daim limited the fair
to three days: the eve, the day, and the morrow of the
Translation of St Thomas the Martyr (Jvly /th). At
the close of the fifteenth century Albrighton was in the
hands of the Talbots. In 1663 the manor was confirmed
to them, and Lady Mary Talbot gave a mace to the
borough, which received a royal charter from Charles IL
Albrighton Fair seems to have been of note, for the
Chelmarsh register has the entry :

July 7th, 1597. S' William Wood, Gierke, Vicar of Chelmarsh, buried,
being Abryton Fayre daye.

Leland speaks of Albrighton Park, where Sir John
Talbot had a house on the way from Shrewsbury to Lon-
don, "toward Hampton Village," at PepperhilL

In 1824 there were four fairs held, at which a good
deal of business was said to be done. The Market House
was still in existence at the beginning of the nineteenth
century. It is described by the Rev. J. B. Blakeway* as
standing in the centre of the town, and having two arches,
with an upper room in which the business of the Corpora-
tion was usually transacted, and under the arches below
was the town prison, called the " Crib," and a pair of
stocks. The Court of the Manor, and other public assem-
blies were held in the "Toll Shop," which stood in the
centre of the street facing the market house. It was a
spacious building with a belfry at one end. In the large
room under the Toll Shop the body of the Duchess of
Shrewsbury lay in state in 1726. The tolls of the fairs
in the latter part of the eighteenth century were given to
a Mr. John Broomhall to pay for the education at his
school of six boys belonging to the borough.

1 "History of Albrighton." Shrppshire ArchttohgUal SocUtys Tram-
acitpns, and series, vol. xi., p. 34.

The Origin and Evolution of the Towns 47

Newport. — Newport^ also on the Staffordshire border,
is a borough of royal foundation, datii^ from the reign
of King Henry L, who founded it on his great manor of
Edgmond as a centre for trade. It had its Franchises
and Customs in his reign, and possessed a priest and a
church, confirmed before 1148 as a possession of the
Abbey of Shrewsbury. Henry II., about 1165, gave a
Charter to Newborough (Novo Burgo), confirming the
liberties they had enjoyed under his grandfather. The
name of Newborough is always used till the beginning
of the thirteenth century, Newport first appearing in 1221,
and then for some years both names are used indifferently,
though Novus Burgus is the favourite form.

The Burgesses of Newborough held their town by the
service of conveying to the King's Court, wherever it
might be, the fish taken in the great fishpond (Vivary) of
the town, and the Keeper of the King's Vivary was one
of the most important men in the place. In 1227 King
Henry III. granted the manor of Edgmond and the town
of Newport to Henry de Audley and his heirs, and the
custom of taking the fish was continued as a service due
to the Audleys. About 1250, James, son of Henry de
Audley, on the payment of 3^5 by the burgesses, allowed
that the obligation of the burgesses should only be to
take the fish within the boundaries of Shropshire. In 1282
there is mention of a market at Newport, and of the
Vivary and MilL Five years later Edward I. confirmed
the charter of Henry 11.^ and the claim of the burgesses
to have a Merchant Gild seems to have been allowed.

In 1317 Nicholas de Audley (II.) is mentioned as
having received 60s. for the tolls of the market and fairs,
but the fair days are not given.

Edward II., in January, 1 32 1-2, granted a charter to
Newport : " for the love I bear to Robert Levere, burgess
of the said borough and our host there," and a manuscript
record says that in the fifteenth year of his reign the king
"lay at the Antelope in Newport, one Robert Levere, a

48 Memorials OF Old Shropshire

merry hosts being master of the mn, who so pleased his
majestie in his entertainment, that for the sake of this
jolly landlord, the town had their charter renewed from
Salop."

Newport, like other Shropshire towns, suffered severely
from fire, and in May, 1665, the greater part of the town
was burnt down, including 160 houses and the Maricet
House, built in 1632 by William Bamefidd " to sell butter
and cheese in."

Leland places Newport among the market towns of
Shropshire, and says that within a mile of the tO¥ni was
a "goodly Mere or Poole." In 1764 there is no mention
of the pool, but the town is said to be ** a good town, with
a free grammar school, and also a free school for the poor
children of the towa" Newport, like Clim, ceased to be
a borough in 1886.

Cleobury Mortimer. — Mediaeval barons were fully
awake to the desirability of encouraging trade as it was
then understood Following the example of the king,
they gave privileges to such g^ds as might exist in
the towns with which they were connected, and they
encouraged the formation of trading centres on their
estates. The great family of Mortimer possessed in
Shropshire the town of Cleobury, which took its distin-
gfuishing name from them. The Domesday Book speaks
of it as a large and important manor with a considerable
population, including a priest. The land was tilled by
twenty-four teams, the full number required, and there
was a mill, and a wood capable of fattening five hundred
swine. The manor belonged before the Conquest to
Edith, the Queen of Edward the Confessor, and though
she was dispossessed in favour of a Norman, William
FitzOsbom, who in turn made way before 1086 to Ralph
de Mortimer, the manor had increased in annual value
from £S to ;^I2. There is nothing in this record that
implies the existence of a town, nor of the castle, which

The Origin and Evolution of the Towns 49

was garrisoned against Henry II. about 1 154, and was
taken and destroyed by that king, but rebuilt some years
later. Cleobury received the grant of a yearly fair in
1226. The days first fixed were the eve, the day, and the
morrow of Holy Cross Day (September I4tk), but for some
reason these were changed to the eve, day, and moxtow of
the beheading of St John the Baptist (August 29th), but
in 1227 the first date was reverted to. The Mortimers
made Cleobury the head of their Shropshire estates, and
in 1266 Roger de Mortimer constituted his twenty Shrop-
shire manors members of a Franchise of Cleobury, respon-
sible to himself and not to the king. The place where he
held his courts is marked by the remains of an ancient
cross.^ The third Roger de Mortimer became, in right
of his wife, lor^ of Ludlow Castle, and obtained a grant
of a fair at Ludlow on St Katherine's Day (November
25th) and four days after, but he seems to have done little
or nothing to aggrandise Cleobury.

In the reign of Queen Elizabeth (1581) mention is
made of the borough and the burgesses of Cleobury, when
it was enacted that each new burgess should pay a fine
of 2S. to the lord of the manor (then Robert Dudley), and
the new burgesses should give the other burgesses a
dinner. From Sir Robert Dudley the manor passed in
1608 to the Lacon family. Ten years later Sir Francis
Lacon obtained flie grant of a Wednesday market in
Cleobuiy Borough and three fairs a year. Leland speaks,
however, of Qeobury as "Mortimer's Clebyri in Shrop-
shire, a Village and a Parke," and mentions that it had
once possessed a castle, but says "there be no Market
Townes in Qe Hills." Camden speaks of the castle as
having been demolished by Henry II., and only small
traces left In 1764 Cleobury is given as a market town,
with the remark : " it has aow nothing worthy of note ; "

1 Mn. Baldwyn-Chflde, ''Geobaqr Mortimer.** Skr9pskir$ Arckaokgical
Steuifs TrmmQeiUm^ ist series, vol. li., p. 42.

50 Memorials of Old Shropshire

but England Displayed^ in 1769, says it is remarkable for
a Wednesday market, and two fairs on May 2nd and
October 27thi for "black cattle, sheep and pigs."

Wem. — ^Wem was in 1086 the head of the Barony of
William Pantulf , of whom we read in the pages of Orderi-
cus Vitalis, the Chronicler. It was a manor of four hides»
and had been held in Saxon times as four manors, but was
waste when it came into William's hands. The value had
been 27s. yearly in the reign of Kii^ Edward, and in
1086 it had more than recovered its former prosperity, as
it was worth 40s. There is nothing to suggest a town in
the Domesday record. There were only two teams oa
land estimated to employ eight, and the existence of a
hawk's-aerie and a wood capable of fattening a hundred
swine, with an enclosed portion (a Haye) for game shows
wild surroundings. William Pantulf took the King's side
during the rebellion of Earl Robert de Belesme, and was
made governor of Stafford Castle. He was succeeded in
his English estates by Robert, the second of his four
sons.

The Pantulf s continued lords of Wem till 1233, but
the manor of Wem was only one among many that they
possessed in Shropshire, Staffordshire, and elsewhere.
The heiress of the Pantulfs married Ralph le Botyler.
In 1 28 1, on the death of Ralph, the manor of Wem
possessed a fortalice, two gardens and two parks, two
watermills, and one windmill The tenants in villeinage
were bound to execute all castle works at the will of their
lord One item of revenue was the toll paid by traders
and travellers who passed through the manor, and included
potura satellitum — apparently drink for the baron's men.
Ralph's widow, Matilda Pantulf, married a second hus-
band, Walter de Hopton. and in 1286 he had at Wem,
by charter of Henry III, a maricet and a fair.* Four

1 One authority says by gift of King John, 1205.

The Origin and Evolution of the Towns 51

years later Wem Castle was reported as in ruins, the
market to be held on Sundays (which was changed to
Thursdays later), and the fair on the eve, the day, and
the morrow of St Peter and St Paul (June 2gth). From
the Botylers the manor passed by heiresses to the Barons
Greystock, the Lords Dacre, and the Earls of Arundel.
Thomas, Earl of Arundel in 1636, obtained a charter for
a fair on St Mark's Day (April 25th) at his borough of
Wem, to last one day. The town is first called a borough
in the sixteenth century, when it was governed by two
bailiffs. Leland makes no mention of it in his Itinerary,
and apparently went from Shrewsbury to Whitchurch by
Prees. In speaking of his ride from Haughmond to
Moreton Corbet, where he saw "a fair Castel of Mr.
Corbetts," and so to Prees, he crossed, apparently at Lee
Bridge, " Roden Riveret, rising not far above Wem village,
a mile from that place." Camden also speaks of Wem as
on the Roden, with the " site of an intended castle." The
Gazetteer of 1764 mentions the Grammar School, founded
in 1645, as the most noteworthy feature of the place. In
1677 a great part of the town was burnt down ; 140 houses,
the church, and the market house were ruined, but the
school buildings escaped.

Ellesmere. — Ellesmere was originally a manor of
the Saxon Earls of Mercia, and after the Conquest
was held in demesne by Earl Roger de Montgomery. It
was valued annually at ;^io in Saxon times, but
yielded ;f20 to Earl Roger, a very large increase in
value. In 1086 it had a large population for that
time, including two priests. After the rebellion of
Robert de Belesme. Earl of Shrewsbury, Ellesmere passed
into the hands of King Henry I., who granted the
manor to William Peverel of Dover, but it was again in
the king's hands in 11 77, when Henry II. grave the land
of Ellesmere to his half-sister Emma, wife of David ap
Owen, Prince of North Wales. In 1203 mention is made

52 Memorials of Old Shropshire

of repairs to Ellesmere Castle, then held by King John,
who two years later gave it to Llewellyn ap Jorwerth,
Prince of North Wales, in marriage with his daughter
Joan, who, under the title of Lady of Wales, granted it
to be a free borough with all the free customs belonging
to the law of BreteuiL^ In 1221 Llewellyn received a
grant from Henry IIL of a weekly market, at Ellesmere
on Tuesdays till the kii^ should be of age

In the latter half of the thirteenth century Ellesmere
Castle was in the care of the Sheriff of Shropshire. In
1242 money was spent on the castle works, and again,
fifteen years later, when the " King's House in Ellesmere
Castle" was also repaired, possibly with the view of a
visit from Prince Edward. In the next year Peter de
Montf ort was in charge of Ellesmere^ and was empowered
to levy customs for five years for the expense of waUing
the town. When Edward I. was firmly seated on his
throne, he gave the manor for life to Roger le Strange of
Knockin, whose brother Hamo had held it under the king
in the latter part of the reign of Henry III.

In 1280, a careful survey was made of the manor.
There is a mention of the Borough Court, and rents of
tenants in burgage. The tenants of Horton paid 2s.
rent, and were bound to victual the men-at-arms in the
castle, and William Smith, of Birch, held half a virgate
there (apparently about 40 acres) by the service of doing
the shoeing and ironwork of teams and mills in the manor,
and, in war-time, of abiding in the castle and forging all
necessary implements. Roger le Strange died in 13 11,
and the king took possession of Ellesmere, but in 1330
Edward III. granted it again to the Stranges, with whom
it remaned till inherited from the Barons of Knockin by
the Stanleys, Earls of Derby. The Kynaston family were
of note in early days in the neighbourhood of Ellesmere,
and in 1 598 Sir Edward Kynaston, Knight, had a licence

IThe law of Breteuil seems to have been that of a town of mixed
population.

The Origin and Evolution of the Towns 53

from Queen Elizabeth to hold a market on Tuesdays and
a fair at EUesmere. Leland, who visited the town some
sixty years earlier, says of it : —

From EUesmere, wher was a Castelle, and very faire Polls yet be.
EUesmere liath a 4 Streates of meately good Building, privileged with
ij Faires, hut no cummun Market now.

Camden mentions the manor, but gives no hint of a
town there, and it is not on the list of market towns of
Salop in 1764, though in 1810 it was said to have a good
market, the principal articles of which were apples, flax,
and stockings.

Wellington. — ^Wellington was also in Saxon times
an important manor of the Earls of Mercia, and yielded
them £20 a year. After the Conquest it was kept by
Roger de Montgomery in his own hands, and was valued
at £18 yearly. It was of great size — ^fourteen hides, with
five hamlets, and land sufficient for twenty-four teams, a
valuable mill, and two fisheries. The population was not
large for the great acreage, but included a priest.

Wellington, like EUesmere, became a Royal manor
after the rebellion of Robert de Belesme, and its revenues
were accounted for to the king by the sheriff of Shrop-
shire. As the years went on, the manor was shorn of
some of its outlying portions, but it was still of large
extent when King John gave it to William de Erdington.
In 1244 Giles de Erdington had a grant of a fair and a
market at Wellington. Some forty years later this grant
was renewed to Sir Hugh Bumell, then lord of the manor,
the day for the market being Thursday, and two fairs
being allowed, one on the eve, the day, and the morrow
of St Barnabas (June nth), and the other on the eve, the
day, and the morrow of the beheading of St John Baptist
(August 29th). At the dose of the twelfth century
Arleston, one of its hamlets, had been nearly twice as
large as Wellington itself,^ but during the thirteenth

1 Arleston had twenty-four hemrths and Wellington fourteen.

54 Memorials of Old Shropshire

century Wellington seems to have increased There is no
mention of a town here in mediaeval times, and the
importance of the manor consisted to a great extent in
its woodland.

Leland places Wellington among • the market towns
of the county, and describes it as " toward London way "
from Shrewsbury. The GazitUer of 1764 speaks of it as
a market town, but containing nothing of note, though
there are drawings extant of a fine half-timbered market
house of seventeenth century date. In 1824 it is described
as lying in .the centre of iron and coal woxli;s, with a weU-
supplied and much-frequented market, but no mention is
made of' Ae nail making which was at ope time carried
on there.

Wombridge was an early centre of coal mining of
which Leland says : " Coles be diggid hard by Ombridge,
where the Priory was," but in his day iron was smelted
with wood fuel, and he says: "yeme is made in certen
places of Shropshire, and especially yn the Woodes
betwixt Belvoys and Wenloke." In speaking of the Clee
Hills he mentions : " There be some Bio Shoppcs to make
yren upon the Bankes of Milbroke^" but the iron foundries
of the Shropshire black country date from long after his
tinte. • .

The coal of their manor was a source of income to the
Austin Canons of Wombridge before the Dissolution of
the Priory in 1535, but it was not used for iron smelting
till many yeairs after their day. Tong Forge was cele-
brated for its iroii in the early seventeenth century, and
the "Iron Mills" in Condover parish were at woric in
1608, smelting iron with wood fuel

Wenlock. — ^The borough of* Wcnlock grew up under
the shadow of the CTuniac pnoiy there, and its burgesses
were the jMior*S men, just ^ those of the Abbey Foregate
at Shrewsbury were the men of* the Abbot, having a
distinct corporate life from that of Shrewsbury itself.

The Origin and Evolution of the Towns 55

The Domesday mention of the great manor of
St Milburg's Abbey, then recently re-founded by Earl
Roger de Montgomery, makes no mention of any town
at Wenlock, and the growth of the borough seems to have
been gradual In the thirteenth century, in 1248,
Henry III. granted to the Prior of Wenlock a confirmation
of a fair held on the eve, the day, and the morrow of
St John the Baptist (June 24th), and in 1224 he had
ordered that the market formerly held at Wenlock on
Sundays should be held in the future on Mondajrs. In
1227 the Prior gave the King twenty merks to have the
three charters of King Richard confirmed to him, and to
have a grant of one fair and two markets. This fair was
the one on St John Baptist's Day confirmed twenty years
later, and the markets were the one on Mondays at Wen-
lock, and one at Eaton-imder-Heywood on Thursdays.
Henry III. visited Wenlock several times, and wine for
his use was sent there from Brug (Bridgnorth). Under
Edward I. the Prior's right to the fair and markets was
called in question^ and also his right to hold a market and
a fair at Ditton Priors. The Prior proved his claim to
the former, but said nothing about Ditton.^

In 1247 die burgesses of Wenlock complained of the
arbitrary treatment of Prior Imbert, and an enquiry was
made. The burgesses then apparently consisted of eight
freemen, who held by old enfeofihnent, paying varying
rents to the Prior, and thirty-nine burgesses wlio paid each
IS. fer annum, for their burgages. Some of these had
tenants of their own, who were not responsible to the
Prior, but on whose goods the Prior had laid a claim. He
had also exacted a toll on beer, over and above the
ordinary custom. In 1379 there is mention of the weekly
market and yearly fair, and of the profits of six water-
mills at Wenlock. - •

In 1467 Sir Jdtm Wenlock, Knight, lord of Wenlock,

1 Tbere are fairs at Dtttom Prion held (our times a year at the present
time.

56 Memorials of Old Shropshire

who was killed at the battle of Tewkesbury in 1471,
obtained from King Edward IV. the grant that Wenlock
should be a free borough, incorporated with a bailiff and
burgesses, and that its liberties should extend throughout
the parish of the Holy Trinity of Wenlock. This was
confirmed in 1546-7 by Henry VIIL, and again by
Charles I. in 1631. The Priory of Wenlock, in 1395,
ceased to be dependent on its parent abbey of La Charit6
sur Loire, but its prosperity seems to have then b^^un to
decline, and Sir John Wenlock was apparently as impor-
tant a man in Wenlock as the Prior, Roger Wenlock,
himself.

Leland notes that Wenlock was a market town " where
was an Abbey." He must have been there within a very
few years of the Dissolution, but makes no further note
than that it had been a house of Black Monks.

Camden speaks of Wenlock as famous for limestone,
and in the time of King Richard II. for a copper mine.
The Gazetteer of 1764 says it was famous for limestone
and tobacco-pipe clay, possibly confusing it with Brose-
ley, which lies within its liberties. In 1769 the weekly
market was said to be on Mondays, and the four fair^ on
May 1 2th, July 5th, October 17th, and December 4th.

Market Drayton. — Market Drayton also owned an
ecclesiastical overlordship. In 1086 it was a manor of
two hides held by William Pantulf, already mentioned in
connection with Wem. It had only a small population
of two neat-herds, two bordars, and a priest, and there
were only two teams on land sufficient for eight The
value in Saxon times had been 20s. annually, but
had fallen to 10& William Pantulf gfave Drayton to
the Abbey he had founded at Noron as a cell of the
great Norman Abbey of St EvrouL The English estates
of St. Evroul were managed by the Prior of Ware in
Hertfordshire, another daughter house of the Norman
Abbey, but not long after the foundation about 11 33,

The Origin and Evolution of the Towns 57

of the Cistercian Abbey of Combermere, just over
the Shr<^)shire border, Drayton was leased to the monks
there, and they retained property here till the DissolutioiL
Under their care the place throve and became a town.
In 124s Simon, Abbot of CombermerCj received the grant
of a market on Tuesdays, and a fair on the eve, the day,
and the morrow of the Nativity of the Vii^pb (Septem-
ber 8th), in his manor of Drayton,^ and other privil^es
of a borough.

In the time of Leiand, Drayton was a market town,
but he says nothing more than that it was upon Tern
River, and Camden says the same in mentioning the
battle of Blore Heath. In 1764 it was only distinguished
for its market, but in 18 10 the canal wharf at Stone, in
Staffordshire, had drawn much of its trade away, and a
small manufactory of haircloth for furniture was its chief
business.

Bishop's Castle.— The town of Bishop's Castle was
also of ecclesiastical origin, and grew up under the
protection of the fortress built in the early twelfth
century by the Bishop of Hereford for the defence
of his great manor of Lydbury North. It was at
first known as Lydbury Castle, but in the thirteenth
century apparently the growth of population round it
caused it to be distinguished from the parent village
of Lydbury, and called Bishop's Castle, or in its
immediate neighbourhood, simply "the Castle." The
episcopal estate covered more than 18,000 acres, and was
reckoned in 1086 as 53 hides, of which 32^ were waste.
In the time of King Edward the Confessor the great
manor was valued at £iS annually; later its value fell
to gfio, and in 1086 was still only ;f 12. Possibly the
damage done to their manor during the troubles of the

1 Edward 11. granted to hit faTonrite, Bartholomew de Badlesmere,
a Thursday market at Adderley and a three days' iair there at St. Peter's
Day.

SS Memorials of Old Shropshire

Conquest awoke the bishops to the necessity of building
a castle on its border. In 1223 the castle was ordered
to be in readiness to be held against the king's enemies^
and three years later the king was himself at Lydbory
on his way from Leominster to Shrewsbury. In 1249
the Bishop had the grant of an annusJ fair and
weekly market in his manor of Lydbury North, and in
1292 it is mentioned that these were held at Bishop's
Castle on Fridays, and on the eve, the day, and the mcnrow
of the Beheadii^ of St John the Baptist (August 29th).
In 1263, during the Barons' War, Bishop's Castle was
stormed by John FitzAlan. Lord of Arundel, who held
it for sixteen weeks, and did great damage to its surround-
ings, for which the Bishops received no recompense. In
1290 Bishop Swiniield spent four days at his castle here,
but as a general rule the fortress was left to the care of a
constable. Among the duties of the burgesses mentioned
in 1 29 1 was the providing of a man three times a year,
if the bishop wished, to drive the deer for hunting. In
1360 John At Wood was constable of the castle, and was
called upon to find forty men out of Bishop's Castle for
the wars in France. He received a salary of £10 a year,
and a robe such as esquires of a lord wore, or 20s. in lieu
of it ; a payment of 6d. a day for the keep of two horses ;
2d a day to keep a porter ; and 4d for every brewii^ of
ale made to be sold there. In 1394, a grant of Richard II.
gave the borough a market on Wednesdays, and a fair on
November 2nd* and the two following days. Queen
Elizabeth, in 1572, gave the town a charter of incorpora-
tion, and its liberties were confirmed by James I. in 1609
Leland calls the town " Bishopes Town, wher is Wekely
a very good market," and in another place he speaks of
the "very celebrate Market" there. Camden also speaks
ef the town as " well-frequented " ; and in 1764, the market
is said to be " famous for cattle and other commodities, and

1 November 3rd is St. Hubert's Day, the ]>atron saiot of hunting, and
is also the day of St. Winifred.

The Origin and Evolution of the Towns 59

much frequented by the Welsh." The charter of Bishop's
Castle was renewed in modem days, and the town is one
of the six corporate borough of the county.

Modern Centres. — ^In addition to these boroughs
and the old market towns, Shropshire possesses several
centres of population that date from modem times.
Broseley and Coalport have been called into existence
by earthenware and china made from the fine local day,
and have been prosperous [daces since the close of the
eighteenth century. Iron and coal have brought
inhabitants to Madeley, Coalbrookdale, Ironbridge,
Dawley, Oakengates, and their surroimdings. Shropshire
was the first county in which iron rails were made.^
They were used in 1767 by the Coalbrookdale Company,
and soon superseded the wooden rails which had till that
time been in use. The iron bridge that has given its
name to what was originally a hamlet of Madeley was
built in 1779.

The most recent of the Shropshire market towns is
Craven Arms, where in the parishes of Halford and
Stokesay the railway junction has brought a considerable
population, and the name of a coaching inn has become
that of a considerable centre of business, with a Friday
market and several important cattle fairs.

Madeley, which now has a larger population than the
borough of Wenlock, was from Saxon times among the
possessions of the monks of Wenlock, and was frequently
known as Madeley Priors. In 1269 the Prior had licence
from Henry III. to hold a weekly market on Tuesdays, and
a yearly fair on the eve, the day, and the morrow of
St Matthew (September 21st), in his manor of Madeley.
Coalbrookdale was in the parish of Madeley, as were Iron-
bridge and Coalport, all places to which prosperity came
in the eighteenth century. Broseley was an ancient parish

1 Dukes' Antifuities of Skrcf shire, p. 83.

6o Memorials of Old Shropshire

within the Liberties of Wenlock, and its church was a
chapeby of Wenlock Church. In 1379 the Prior of
Wenlock was lord of a third of the manor, and had the
right to each third presentation to the church. The
manufacture of Broseley clay pipes goes back to the
seventeenth century, sbon after the introduction of tobacco.
There was a manufacture of pottery in this neighbourhood
in Roman times, but the clays seem to have been little
used, if at all, during the Middle Agesw

Dawley was originally a member of Roger de Mont-
gomery's great manor of Wellington, and in the Middle
Ages was only a small viUage, with a fortified manor-house
built in 13 16, and a church belonging to the mother church
of Shifnal. Camden mentions Dawley Castle as having
been annexed by Richard II. to the PrincipaUty of Chester,
and he goes on to remark : " Not far from the foot of this
hill, in the depth of the valley, by the Roman military high-
way, is Okenyate, a small village of some note for the
pit-coal." The difficulty of carriage kept the coal pits
from being of great importance, except tfiose within easy
distance of the Severn, but at the beginning of the nine-
teenth century the formation of canals brought increased
prosperity to the Shropshire Black Country, to which the
construction of railways some years later added.

Madeley had possessed a market house in the seven-
teenth century, which the Beauties of England, of 181 1,
says had been destroyed " somewhat more than a century
ago," but replaced in 1763 by a new house some two miles
from the site of the first, where the market was kept near
the foot of the "famous iron bridge." In 18 10 Madeley
had some five thousand inhabitants, and "a work for
obtaining fossil tar or petroleum, from the condensed
smoke of pit coal," which had been started some twenty
years before by the Earl of Dundonald.

Ancient Markets. — In addition to the places which
have grown up into towns, Shropshire has several vilU^es

The Origin and Evolution of the Towns 6i

that have had the right of fairs or markets since at least
the thirteenth century. Bishop Bumell, in 1269, had the
grant from Henry III. of a market on Tuesdays at Acton
Bumell, and two yearly fairs oa the eve, the day, and
the morrow of the Ann^mciation (March 25th) and of
Michaelmas (September 29th). He planned that Acton
Bumell should become a town under the protection of
his manor-house, but this was never carried out His
nephew, Philip Bumell, some twenty-five years later, had
charters for fairs and markets on his estates at Rushbury,
Wootton (near Stanton Lacy), and Longden, but little
advantage seems to have been taken of the privilege.

Under Henry III. Chirbury ranked as a royal borough,
but it was always overshadowed by Montgomery, its near
neighbour. Burford also was a free borough by a grant
of Henry III. to Hugh de Mortimer. The burgesses held
by the law of Breteuil and paid to Hugh and his heirs
one shilling for each burgage.

Henry III. granted fairs or markets to several others
of the chief Shropshire landowners. Philip Marmion had
a Monday market at Pulverbach, and a fair on the eve,
the day, and the morrow of St Edith (September i6th),
and though the market has long ceased, the fair remains.
Thomas Corbet had a Wednesday market at Worthen, and
two three days* fairs at St Peter's Day (June 29th) and
Holy Cross Day (September 14th). He had also a Friday
market at Shelve, and a three days' fair there at the
Invention of the Cross (May 3rd). His father Robert, as
early as 1200, had the grant of a Wednesday market at
Caus, and Thomas, nearly fifty years later, had a three
days' fair at the Translation of St Thomas tl^e Martyr
(July 7th). Henry de Pembmge, lord of Tong, had a
weekly market on Thursdays, and a three days* fair at
the feast of St Bartholomew (August 24th). The lords
of Wattlesbui^h had a licence in 1272 for a Wednesday
market there, and a three days' fair at St James' Day
(July 25th). The lord of Hodnet — always an important

62 Memorials of Old Shropshire

manor— had the right of holding a market by charter of
Henry III., but had no fair. The Abbot of Haug^imond
also had a grant later, from Edward IL, of a Thursday
market at Leebotwood, but no fair. The barons of Castle
Holgate bad a grant of a market from Henry III., atid of
market and fair from Edward L The fair was to be on
the eve, day, and morrow of the feast of Holy Trinity.
Fulk FitzWarin, lord of Alberbury, had a charter from the
latter king for a Friday market and two fairs, each of
three days, one at the feast of St Cyriac knd St Julitta
(July i6tti), and the other at Michaelmas. The lord of
Burford had a Saturday market and a three days' fair at
Lady Day ; the lord of Cheswardine a Monday market and
a three days' fair at St Swithin (July 15th); of High
Ercall a Monday market and a three days' fair at the
Nativity of the Virg^ (September 8th); of Chetwynd a
Tuesday market and a three days' fair (granted in 13 18)
at All Souls* Day (November 2nd).

Possibly the proximity to Newport and its inns made
this latter more attractive than it would otherwise have
been. Stottesdon had a three days' fair at the Assump-
tion and a Tuesday market, and Aston Botterel a Tuesday
market and a fair at Michaelmas. Knockin had also a
Tuesday market and a fair at St John Baptist's Day.

Among the privileges of Battlefield College was a fair
on St Mary Magdalene's Day (July 22nd), which was an
important event in the neighbourhood Provision was
made for it by building booths, and the " cryer of the fair "
was a man of importance for the time being.

In addition to these markets and fairs which are
known by documentary evidence to have once existed,
there are several traditional sites in various parts of
the county where markets are said to have been held
in times of plague.* One of these is Croeswylan, near
Oswestry, where the tradition may be founded on a

1 Cough's History of Middle^ p. 177.

The Origin and Evolution of the Towns 63

memory of a terrible plague year in Oswestry in 1559. A
similar tradition is associated with Benthall Stone, which
stands at some cioss roads on the way from Shrewsbury
to Alberbury, about 3 miles from the latter village ; and
also with the Butter Cross at Alveley, a wayside cross of
mediaeval date, which stands at cross lanes, not very far
from the ferry over the Severn at Hampton Lode. Ben-
thall Cross (as it is often called) may possibly have been
the scene of one of the fairs granted to Alberbury, as it
stands on what was once the way down to the ferry that
put the FitzAlan Castle of Shrawardine in touch with the
country about Pontesbury and Westbury. Both Benthall
and tiie Butter Cross are too far from a town to make the
l^^d of a plague market very probable, but may they
not possibly both mark the site of some unchartered fair,
only kept up clandestinely in the days when a charter
became a necessity ?

Cressage, though not apparently having any charter
of market, had a market cross, which Mr. Blakeway, the
historian of Shrewsbury, who died in 1826, mentions as
standing within his memory. It was apparently a covered
building, and was removed as having become a centre of
unruly behaviour in the village.

It is now difficult always to see the reason why some
of the centres for markets and fairs became towns, while
others made no use of their opportunities for trade. One
fact is noticeable which may throw a little light on the
evolution of the Shropshire towns, and that is that every
ancient town except Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth, Wenlock,
and Church Stretton, is on the borders of the county.
Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth are on the only natural water-
way, and Stretton on the natural highway between the
north and south divisions of the county. There is a trace
of a line of demarcation crossing Shropshire shown by
customs and folklore, and to some extent by dialect, but
this is of too remote a date to affect the life of the towns.
It is impossible within the limits of this chapter to enter

Memorials of Old Shropshire

into the details of the individual life oi each borough,
with the internal jealousies of the High and Low Town
of Bridgnorth, or of Frankwett and Shrewsbury, or the
rivalry of the two parts of Ludlow in their Shrove
Tuesday rope-pulling, but enough has been written to
show the variety of history and of interest that is bound
up in the beginnings of the market towns of Salop.

Henrietta M. Auden.

RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS— MEDIiEVAL
AND POST-MEDIiEVAL

By the Editor

(I) THE SOURCES OF SHROPSHIRE
CHRISTIANITY

jBN endeavouring to trace some of the chief religious
jKL movements which have influenced the people of
(M Salop at different periods, and left their mark on it
as a county, it is necessary to go back to an early
period of its history. The first question that suggests
itself is — whence did this part of England derive its Chris-
tianity ? We know that there was a British Church which
had its full ecclesiastical organisation in the fourth
century ; and as one of its representatives at the Council
of Aries, in 314, was Bishop of Caerleon, in Monmouth-
shire, south of this county, and as there was a large Celtic
Monastery or College at a later peijrd at Bangor Iscoed,
just over the Shropshire border northwards, there is a
strong probability that the country which lay between
contained at least some adherents to the Christian faith.
Possibly when the ruins of Uriconium are completely
explored, traces of Christian worship will be found there,
as has been the case of Silchester. Whether, however,
Christianity i»:evailed in what is now Shropshire under the

6$
F

.^■»

66 Memorials of Old Shropshire

Roman rule, or not, it was swept away by tiie Saxon inva-
sion, and its remnants driven westward into the mountain
fastnesses of Wales. The worship of Woden took the
place of the worship of Christ, and the work of conver-
sion had to be b^^ over again. This work was under-
taken from two different points of the compass. The old
British Church was too paralysed by its misforttmes, and
smarted too much from the wounds which the Saxons had
inflicted, to take any real part in their conversion, but the
work was vigorously undertaken by Celtic missionaries
from the north, whose head-quarters were at lona, and
afterwards at Lindisf ame, and by Latin missionaries from
the south, who derived their credentials from Rome.

The two streams of influence met in the west midlands,
and it was possibly within the boundaries <if the county
that Augustine held the conference with the representatives
of the British Church, at which he gave such dire offence
by his arrogant manner. It is almost certain, however,
that the county in Saxon times derived its Christianity,
not from Augustine's Roman Mission, but from the Celtic
missionaries who came from the north.

King Oswald of Northumbria, who^ death near
Oswestry at the hands of the heathen Penda has been
already alluded to, was the great friend and patron of
St Aidan, who came from Zona, and was the first Bishop
of Lindisfame ; and among the disciples of St Aidan was
St Chad, who became the first Bishop of the Mercians,
and fixed the seat of the See at Lichfield. But the
strongest proof of the statement that Shropshire derived
its Christianity from the north is to be found in a study
of the saints to whom the churches of the county are
dedicated There is among them a reminiscence indeed
of the earlier British Christianity. The old Church of
Cressage was dedicated to St Sampson, who was a Welsh
saint, bom, according to tradition, in Glamorganshire, and
afterwards Bishop of Dol, in Brittany, among his fellow
countrymen beyond the sea. There exists a well at Much

Religious Movements 67

Wenlock dedicated to St Owcn,^ who was also associated
with Brittany, and there is c<insideiable probability that
St Juliana, to whom one of the Churches of Shrewsbury
is dedicated, represents a British saint, possibly St Sulien,
whose name had a similar sound The traces, however,
of influence from Lindisfame are much more numerous.
Not to mention the prevalence of dedications to
St Andrew, the patron of the northern half of the island,
there are numerous churches dedicated to St Chad at
Shrewsbury and elsewhere, and the dedications to St Alk-
mund at Shrewsbury and Whitchurch, as well as Derby
outside the county, point in the same direction, for
Alkmund was a prince of Northumbria. A stronger proof,
however, is to be found in the fact that two churches at
least in Shropshire — Donnington and Clungunford — are
dedicated to St Cuthbert, the Apostle of Durham, who
was one of the successors of Aidan as Bishop of Lindis-
fame.

There is yet one dedication which is the most
important of alL On the banks of the Severn, about
four miles from Shrewsbury, is the pretty church and
village of Atcham, memorable as the place at which the
dironicler O'rdericus Vitalis was baptized. But it has
earlier associations than that Atcham is a shortened
form of Attingham, and Attingham is by its etymology the
•* home of the children of Eata" We have no difficulty in
identifying Eata. He was one of the young men trained
by St Aidan for missionary work among the heathen
Saxons; and so we have in the village which enshrines
his name, and in the church which is dedicated to his
honour, an abiding memory of the self-denying efforts by
which he and his fellow missionaries from the north
restored to Shropshire the light which heathenism had
quenched, and restored it to be wholly quenched no more.*

1 Cf. Miss Burners Shropshire Folh-Lort^ p. 621.

2 ifnd.^ p. 62a

68 Memorials of Old Shrc^shire

(2) MONASTICISM AND THE CRUSADES

We pass to the great movement of monastidsm as it
affected Shropshire. The idea that it was possible to live
a higher religious life in seclusion than amid the occupa-
tions of the world was one that developed itself at an early
period in Christian history. Its development, however,
was not uniform, but varied greatly according to national
as well as individual temperament Its earliest form was
the solitary life of the Egyptian hermit; but it was a
natural and easy step from this to the cloister, which was
intended to combine the devotional life of the individual
with the home life of a community. Shropshire, indeed,
had its hermits all through the mediaeval period. In the
red sandstone of Bridgnorth, at no great distance from the
town, is a cave which still bears the name of " The Her-
mitage,'* and was inhabited by a series of Anchorites, some
of whose names are recorded, and of whom the earliest is
said to have been a brother of the Saxon king Athelstan.
Haughmond Abbey is stated to have been built on the
site of a hermit's cell, and, not to mention other tradi-
tions, there was in the time of Henry III., on the Wrekin,
a " Hermit of Mount Gilbert," whose name was Nicholas
de Denton, to whom in 1267 the king made a grant of
six quarters of com to be paid by the Sheriff of Shropshire,
"to give the Hermit greater leisure for holy exercises,
and to support him during his life so long as he shall
be a Heremite on the aforesaid mountain." ^

We pass, however, to monastic life spent in community.
Allusion has already been made to Celtic monasticism as
embodied in settlements like that at Bangor Iscoed, on
the banks of the Dee, but this was rather a college — one
might almost say a university — ^than a monastery in the
sense in which the word is commonly used. Its members
were far more numerous, and the object of their associa-
tion was more for learning than devotion, and included

1 Eyton*s Antiquitus, toI. ix., p. 49.

Religious Movements 69

the idea of missionary effort on bebalf of othera They
appear to have had but little in the way of a conventual
rule of life. The development of monasticism proper, by
which is meant the Uving in community under strict
religious rule, received its chief impulse in Western Europe
from St Benedict in the first half of the sixth century.
His rule, which became the model for such institutions, was
moderate in its requirements. It included a care for learn-
ing and for devotion, but it attached great importance to
manual labour. Its essential idea, however, in St Bene-
dict's mind, was that of a religious Home.^ Whatever the
employment of the brethren — ^whether in the Church or
in the fields, in the Scriptorium copying manuscripts, or
in the Hospitium waiting on guests — ^they were to regard
themselves as members of a household, children of a
common home, of which the Abbot was the father and
head.

The Benedictine rule was apparently introduced into
England by St Augustine of Canterbury, at the close of
the sixth century, but it owed much more to St Dunstan
in the middle of the tenth. The most opposite pictures of
the character and work of St Dunstan have been drawn
by his friends and his foes, but though he was no doubt
stem in his ecclesiastical views, and firm in his carrying
of them out, his personal character was without reproach ;
and he laboured both for Church and country with all his
heart at a very difficult crisis. In the State his efforts were
mainly directed to the consolidation of Danes and Saxonis
into one nation; in the Church his desire was to raise
the clergy to a higher level, both social and religious. For
this purpose he discouraged the secular clergy who shared
the common life of their flocks, but were under little
or no discipline, and encouraged the r^^lars who lived
under conventual rule; but at the same time he
endeavoured to reform the lax ways into which the

iTauDton's English Black Monks of St, Benedict, yoI. i., p. 33.

Memorials of Old Shropshire

monasteries had fallen, and give them a higher tone under
strict Benedictine rule.

The Benedictine Order had one abbey of the first rank
in Shropshire, besides two others of less importance. The
two smaller houses were Bromfield Priory, near Ludlow,
and the Priory of MorviUe, near Bridgnorth; both had
been CoU^iate foundations in Saxon times, but Bromfield
became a cell of Gloucester Abbey, and Morville was

Effigy in Shifnal Church.

attached to the Abbey of Shrewsbury, just alluded
to. Shrewsbury Abbey, indeed, was one of the most
important monasteries in England; it owed its founda-
tion to Roger de Montgomery, the great Norman Earl of
Shrewsbury, whOj acting under the advice of his chaplain.
Odelerius, father of the chronicler Ordericus Vitalis, and
supported by the influence of his Countess Adeliza, con-
verted the little wooden church of St Peter, which stood

Religious Movements 71

just across the Severn, into a stately home for brethren
of the Benedictine 6rder. It is true, indeed, if we read
between the lines of Ordericus' narrative, that not only the
credit of the idea of founding the Abbey was due to
Odelerius, but that the larger part of the endowment also
came from him ; but it was his patron's support which gave
success to the movement, and Roger crowned the work by
himself becoming a brother, and breathing his last within
its walls.

The moderate endowment of its foundation was soon
augmented by other benefactors, until it stood in the first
rank of religious houses, and its mitred abbot took his
place as a baron of the kingdom. In the reign of Stephen
the monks increased the veneration in which the abbey
was held, as well as its revenues, by adding to the relics
it already possessed the body of St Winefride, which was
brought out of Wales with much ceremony and deposited
in the Church of the monastery in a shrine of which a
fragment still remains. The wealth of the abbey is shown
by the fact that when it was dissolved by Henry VIII. the
annual revenue amounted to about j^6oo— a large sum
according to the value of money in those days. At the
Dissolution, in spite of petitions from the Corporation that
the buildings might be preserved for use either as a place
for entertaining illustrious visitors, or as a college, the
dissolved abbey passed into the hands of lay favourites
of the court, and the buildings were dismantled and ruined.
The portions now remaining are the nave of the Church
(which was saved by the fact that it served the parish
as well as the monastery) and the reader's pulpit of the
Refectory, with a few other fragments. The nave is partly
Norman, with later additions; the reader's pulpit pro-
bably dates from the early part of the fourteenth century.*

We pass from the Benedictine Order to its earliest
offshoot, that of Cluny. This had its origin in a desire

1 For further details, ef, the author's Shrewsbury (Mcthuen), pp. 71-78.

12 Memorials of Old Shropshire

to bring monasteries into doser relationship to one
another by making them dependent on one common head
Odo» Abbot of Cluny in the century before the Conqiiest»
conceived the idea of a confederation of houses over wfaidi
the Abbot of Cluny should preside, and to whom all tiie
other abbots of the Order should render account The
idea caught the mind of those in high places, and under
the fostering care of the Norman kings some thirty
Cluniac houses were founded in England.

As regards the daily life of the monks» the Qoniac
reform was in the direction of what we should now call
''Ritualism." They not only professed a more strict
observance of ^e Benedictine rule than had beoMDe
prevalent, but their services were marked by a ^lendoor
and magnificence such as had not hitherto been attempted

Shropshire possessed one house of the Cluniac Order —
that of Wenlock. Being dependent on another house, it
was always a priory, and not strictly speaking an abbey,
but it became a very wealthy and important establish-
ment

Wenlock, however, had a monastic history before it
became Cluniac St Milburga, granddaughter of Penda,
the pagan king of Mercia, founded and presided over a
nunnery there in the seventh centtuy, which is said to have
been destroyed in one of the Danish raids. This was
restored in collegiate form by Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and
husband of the Lady Godiva, some half-century before
the Conquest. It again, however, fell into decay until it
passed into the possession of Roger de Montgomery, who
refounded it as a Cluniac house. He seems to have
endowed his new foundation with most of the lands which
had belonged to Leofric's college, but he made it monastic
in the later sense of the word In the words of Domesday,
"Earl Roger hath made the Church of St Milburga an
abbey," and the same document also shows that his founda-
tion of Wenlock was anterior to that of Shrewsbury. In
the first instance it did not depend on Cluny direct, but

h93

«/.'*•.'. •♦'♦•••••♦ ".•«»'* /'•«•.../ !»* *<rK-^flffl/fiilH
K^V.v*:;:;: -;• /V; m '- 'Vmi'!'; .^M

BurLDWAS Abbey.

Religious Movements 73

on the Priory of La Charity on the Loire, which was itself
affiliated to Quny.

Wenlock soon took a high position among monastic
establishments ; and, as was the case with Shrewsbury and
St Winefride, its monks added both to the veneration and
wealth of their house by discovering the remains of St. Mil-
burga and translating them with much ceremony to their
new church. The result of all this was that by the end
of the thirteenth century it was a richer foundation even
than the Abbey of Shrewsbury.

The fact that it was an alien priory caused it to pass
through troublous times during the period that Englauid
was eng^aged in war with France, but it was saved from
confiscation by being made denizen — ^that is, constituted
an English house — in 1395, and it survived till the Dissolu-
tion by Henry VIII., at which period its annual revenue
was £434. It had a small dependent cell at PreeiL

The portions of Wenlock still remaining bear witness
to the desire of the Cluniac Order for magnificence and
grandeur in their ritual The dimensions of the great
church may be traced without difficulty, and the chapter
house is a beautiful specimen of Transitional Norman.
The well head in the middle of the cloister garth will also
arrest attention ; while the Prior's Lodging, though a late
addition to the monastic buildings, presents the unique
spectacle of an ecclesiastical house of the fifteenth century
which has come down to modem times almost untouched,
and is still inhabited.

The Cluniac endeavour to reform the Benedictine rule
had been followed, as was inevitable, by another in the
opposite direction. If the Cluniacs were the Ritualists of
Monasticism, the Cistercians were its Puritans; and it
shows the tendency of English thought, even in mediaeval
times, that the number of Cistercian monasteries founded
in England was more than three times as many as of those
belonging to the Cluniac Order.

The Cistercians were represented in Shropshire by two

74 Memorials of Old Shropshire

houses — that of Buildwas for monks, and that of White-
ladies, near Brewood, for nuns. The Order had been
founded in 1098 by Robert, Abbot of Citeaux, in Bur-
gundy, with the idea of a return to stricter disapline, and
among the first monasteries founded on the model of
Citeaux was that of Savigny, in Normandy.

Buildwas was founded about 1 135 by Roger de Clinton,
Bishop of Chester, and in the first instance was affiliated
not to Citeaux, but to Savigny. In 1147, however,
Savigny was united to the Cistercian Order, and carried
with it the houses dependent on it Buildwas received
numerous benefactions and privileges in its earlier days,
but it never attained to the wealth of its neighbours at
Shrewsbury and Wenlock.

The Order was noted for its hospitality, and the monks
probably found that their income did not much more than
suffice for their wants. The result was that Giraldus Cam-
brensis^ — whose estimate was derived from the monasteries
of the Welsh border — tells us that the Cistercians were
well known for their greed. This view is confirmed in the
case of Buildwas by a story told by Matthew Paris. He
relates a conversation which took place in 1256 between
Henry III. and the then Abbot

" How is it," said the King, " that you have denied me
peamiary assistance, though I am in need, and, moreover,
ask you as a suppliant ? Am I not your patron ? "

" I would," replied the Abbot, " that you were not only
our patron, but our father and defender ; but it is not fitting
that you should cause us loss by extorting money from us ;
you should rather ask the benefit of our devout prayers,
like the good king of the French."

"I want both your money and your prayers," His
Majesty answered.

But the Abbot made reply : " I do not see how that can
possibly be ; you must go without one or the other, for if

1 Giraldus Cambrensis' Works (Rolls edition), yoI. ir., p. 120.

Religious Movements 75

you violently extort from us our substance, how can we
offer for you {payers that are devout and heartfelt? And
prayer without such devoutness is of little or no avail"

The tfironicler, however, goes on to say that the con-
versation had not much effect on the King. He proceeded
quietly (tacitus) to insist on help from all the abbots of
the Order.i

There was one direction, however, in which the Cister-
cians, equally with the other monastic orders, gave without
stint, and that was for their buildings. They prided them-
selves on the simplicity of their services, as contrasted
wth the gorgeous ritual of the Cluniacs, but none the less
the architecture of their houses must be the very best
that the age could produce; and so the remains of the
Cistercian houses which have come down to us are among
the architectural gems of England.

The remains of Buildwas are no exception. They are
principally the church and the chapter house, which are
both comparatively perfect, and exhibit all the simple and
massive beauty which belonged to the Norman period as
it began to pass into that of the Early English.

The Cistercian nunnery known as Whiteladies, on the
Staffordshire confines, so called to distinguish it from the
Benedictine House of Black Nuns just over the border, is
of uncertain foundation, but probably dates from the
end of the twelfth century. It never attained to any
great wealth or influence. The present remains consist
of part of the church, and are chiefly of late Norman work,
agreeing with the date of its foundation.*

Neither the Cluniac, however, nor the Cistercian, nor
even the great Benedictine Order itself, took such firm
hold on Shropshire as did that of the Augustinian or Austin
Canons. These had not less than five houses in the county,
df which two were large and important. They were

1 Matthew Paris, Ofera (edition 1644), p. 622.

> Whiteladies is within a mile of Boscobel, where Charles II. was
hidden in the oak after the battle of Worcester.

76 Memorials of Old Shropshire

situated at Haug^imond, Lilleshall, Wombridge, Chiibury,
and Ratlinghope.

The Augustinian Canons were not monks in the
same sense as the brothers of the Orders akeady men-
tioned As is implied in the word canon they were aD
ordained dergy, whereas in the other Orders many were
lay brethrea They also differed in another essential
particular : they were allowed to take cure of souls. This
was possibly in part the secret of their influence and hold
on the people. They had interests outside the walls of
their monastery whidi prevented them from being wholly
absorbed in the thought of their own salvation, and in
ministering to others they were themselves ministered ta
They doived their name from St Augustine of Hippo,
in whose writings they professed to find their rule, and as
time went on they became more and more assimilated in
discipline and manner of life to the monks, though their
distinctive features were not wholly lost.

Of the Augustinian houses in Shropshire the two most
important were Haughmond and Lilleshall. Haughmond
is only about three miles from Shrewsbury, and lies at the
foot of the hill bearing the same name. It was founded
between the years 1130 and 11 38 by William Fitzalan,
who was a strong supporter of the Empress Matilda against
the claims of Stephen. It received endowments not only
from Fitzalan, but also from Matilda and her .son
Henry II., and among later privileges conferred on it was
a permission to improve the adjoining land, granted by
-Edward I. when staying at Acton Biunell in 1283.

There has come down to us an interesting reminiscence
of the life of a canon of Haughmond in the shape of a
collection of poems by one of them. John Audelay, or
Awdlay, was a brother who was living there in the first
half of the fifteenth century. He tells us that he was then
blind and deaf, and that his earlier life had not been all
it should have been. He found amusement for his lonely
hours in composing poems of a religious character: —

Reugious Movements n

As I lay tick in mj languor

In an Abbey here by West^
This book I made with great dolour

When I mi^^t not sleep nor rest.l

And having thus described the manner of composing
his work, he ends the preface as follows : —

O look ye» sirs, I ask and pray,
Since this I made with good intent,
Reyering God Omnipotent,
Pray for me, ye that be present ;
My name is J(^n the blind Awdlay.

Though he repudiates all credit to himself, his poems
contain many wise remarks as well as much devotional
fervour. They throw light also on the later monastic age
by allusions to the unpopularity of spiritual earnestness,
and the need of reformation, though at the same time they
g^ve expression to the monkish detestation of the oncoming
wave of reform as embodied in Wycliffe. Nothing more
is known of his personal Ufe, but we may well echo the
prayer with which one of his poems concludes, and trust
that the blind and deaf old man foimd the "light at
evening time " which he desired : —

Make me worthy. Father dear,
That Thy sweet calling I may hear,

In the hour of my parting ;
^Come unto Me, chosen and blest.
And have the bliss that aye shall last

For worlds without ending." 2

At the Dissolution, when its income was ;f 294, Haugh-
mond passed into the hands of the Barker family, who
occupied it as a dwelling house. They introduced various
changes and additions, which have marred the original
design and increased the difficulty of tracing it The
church has almost entirely perished, though the position
of the high altar may be made out by two remaining graves

1 The spelling is modernised.

* Cf. Poms by John Audilay (Percy Society) ; also Abbe3r's Religious
Thought in Old English Verse, p. 93.

78 Memorials of Old Shropshire

of the Fitzalan family. The fine arches of late Norman
work, which led to the chapter house, still survive, and a
part of the domestic building the principal being the hall
of the infirmary, with a fine gable, containing a large
window of Decorated architecture.

Lilleshall Abbey had a history of a different kind
Haughmond was the foundation of a layman, and was
associated with a distinct political cause.^ Lilleshall was
the foundation of a prominent ecclesiastic, and was endowed
at the expense of the parochial clergy. It was not
origiiially Augustinian in the strict sense of the term, but
belonged to an offshoot of that Order, known as Arroasian,
from their first house being near Arras. They were intro-
duced into England about 1140, their earliest settlement
being at Dorchester in Oxfordshire. Shortly afterwards
some of them came into Shropshire under the patronage
of Philip de Belmeis, who was Lord of Tong. This Philip
was nephew of Richard de Belmeis, Bishop of London,
and was brother of another Richard, who, like his unde,
was an ecclesiastic While only a boy, this second Richard
had been appointed by his uncle to the post of Archdeacon
of London, and in 1 127, though barely of age, he obtained
from Henry I. the grant of a valuable prebend in the
church of St Alkmund, Shrewsbury. One of the estates
belonging to this prebend was the manor of Lilleshall, and
in 1 144, or thereabouts, he transferred the Arroasian
canons, whom his brother Philip had brought from Dor-
chester, from their home at Lizard Grange to Donnington
Wood, which was within his own prebendal estate. In
the year following he obtained permission from Stephen
to endow them with all the prebends of St Alkmimd as
they fell vacant, and this large accession of income was
followed by another migration to the Wood of Lilleshall,
and by the building on their new site of a stately abbey.

It will be seen that the foimdation of Lilleshall was an

1 Shropskiri Arckaological Society s Translations^ ist series, toI. zi.,
p. III.

Reugious Movements 79

example of a system ^i^hich proved one of the greatest
blots on Monastidsm, and went far eventually to alienate
the minds of men from it, and bring about its ruin. It
was the diverting of an endowment from parochial to
monastic purposes, and as might be expected, there was
no love lost between the authorities of the town of Shrews-
bury, which had been despoiled, and the authorities «f the
abbey, which had been the gainer by the spoliation. The
abbot had a house in the town, which was traditionally
the fine half-timbered house which still stands in the
Butcher Row near St Alkmund's Church, but neither, the
abbot nor his stately residence could have been any object
of admiration to the one poorly-endowed vicar, who was
left to do the work at St Alkmund's, instead of the college
of twelve prebendaries it had previously possessed.

Lilleshall, like Haughmond, had its poet, whose works
have survived till the present day. About the time that
John Audelay was whiling away his hours of blindness
at the one house in the first half of the fifteenth century,
John Mirk, or Myrk, was also writing verses at the other.
Nothing is known of his personal career beyond the fact
that he was a canon — ^possibly prior — of Lilleshall, but
two works of his have come down to us. One is a collec-
tion of sermons in English, and the other is a poem, also
in English, containing instructions for parish priests. His
instructions throw much light on the manners of the time,
but the character he incidentally gives of the clergy is not
more favourable than that drawn by other writers of the
period. The poem opens as follows: —

God saith Himself, as written we find,

That when the blind leadeth the blind

Into the ditch they fallen boo [both]

For they see not whereby to go.

So priests do now behave by dawe [day]

They are so blind in God's law

That when they should the people rede [instruct]

Into sin they do them lead.l

1 Edited for Early English Text Society by E. Peacock, 1868. The
spelling is modernised.

8o Memorials of Old Shropshire

At the Dissolution, when the Abbey passed into lay
hands, the income was ;£ 229. The ruins still remaining
are considerable. They consist of the churdi, which
appears to have been aisleless, and a large portion of the.
domestic buildings, from which the plan of the house may
be traced without much difficulty. The architecture is
for the most part Transitional Norman, going back to the
period when the abbey was founded, though there are some
details of later date.

Wombridge Priory was founded between the years
1 1 30 and 1 1 35 by William de Hadley and his wife, but
it never attained any eminence or prestige. Its canons
lost nothing in the way of benefactions for want of asking,^
but they were overshadowed by the greater abbeys which
surrounded them. At the Dissolution, Wombridge passed
with Lilleshall to the Leveson family, but the buildings
have entirely disappeared.

Chirbury Priory was later in foundation than Wom-
bridge by about half a century. Its founder was Robert
de Buthlers, Lord of Montgomery, and its original site •
was at Snead, just over the border, but as the advowson
of Chirbury formed part of the endowment, and the church
was probably served from the priory, it was moved to
that site. In the reign of Edward I. permission was
g^nted to remove back to Snead, but the idea was not
carried out

There is an interesting light thrown on monastic life
by the account of a visit paid to Chirbury in
October, 1285, by Richard de Swinfield, Bishop of Here-
ford, who was diligent in the visitation of his diocese, and
the record of whose work in that direction has OMne
down to us. In a letter written to the Prior after his
visit, he blamed the brethren for being so vain and
litigious, so given to gossip and wandering about, that
they neither obeyed God nor kept the rules of their Order^

1 Eyton's Antiquities of Shropshire, ▼ol. vii., p. 365.

Religious Movements 8i

and he charged him to reduce them to better discipline at
all costs. It is satisfactory to know that the bishop's
admonitions had their effect Some two years afterwards
he visited the priory again, and was able to change his
tone. Ther^ had been a satisfactory reformation, and
instead ofblamir^ them, he was able to praise their
devotion to God and their kindness to their fellow men^
At the Dissolution the income of the Priory was less
than ;f loa The buildings have disappeared.

The last of the Augustinian houses was the little Priory
of RatUnghope at the foot of the Stiperstones, which was
a cell of the great Abbey of Wigmore, just over the
Herefordshire border. It is interesting as the subject of
a doaunent by Llewelyn the Great, Prince of Wales, in
which he enjoins his adherents to safeguard and protect
it as a house devoted to pious uses.^ At the Dissolution
its revenues barely reached £$-

Old Shropshire, as distinguished from the present
county, may claim also one house belonging to the Pre-
monstratensian Order. The parish of Halesowen, best
known, perhaps, as containing the home of the poet
Shenstone, known as ** The Leasowes," belonged in whole
or in part to Salop till the middle of the last century, though
surrounded by Worcestershire, and twenty miles or so
away from the main body of the county. In this parish
an abbey was founded in 121 5 by Peter de Rupibus,
Bishop of Winchester, to whom King John had granted
the manor. The Order to which it belonged derived its
name from Pr6 montr6 — ^Latinized into Praemonstratum —
near to Laon, in France, and was founded by St. Norbert,
whose object was to raise the tone of the Augustinian
Canons by stricter discipline and more earnest exercises of
devotion. Halesowen Abbey became one of considerable
wealth and importance, its income at the Dissolution
amounting to £337 a year. Some fragments of the

1 Household ExpiHSos of Bf. Swinfkid (Camden Soe.), p. czcit.
t Ejton's Antiptitios, vol. ti., p. 160.

82 Memorials of Old Shropshire

conventual church and refectory remain, which from their
style must have formed part of the work of the founder.

Of the purely alien priories, that is, priories which
owned allegiance only to monastic houses beyond the sea,
and had no superior in Eng^d, Shropshire had one. This
was the Priory of Alberbury, locally known as the White
Abbey. It was a cell of Grandmont in Limousin, in the
south-west of France. Its inmates were monks properly
so called, not canons, and so far as the Order of Grand-
mont was to be regarded as a distinct Order, it was, like
the'Cluniacs and Cistercians, a reformed offshoot of the
Benedictines; but it never came near them in importance
or influence.

Alberbury was probably founded between 1220 and
1230 by one of the Fitzwarin family, but as an alien priory
its revenues were confiscated during the wars with France.
It was in royal hands as early as the reign of Edward III.,
and in 1441, at the request of Archbishop Chicheley, its
possessions were granted to his new College of All Souls,
Oxford, to which they still belong. The remains of the
priory now form part of a farmhouse.

It only remains to speak of the Military Orders, and
of the Crusades in which they originated. As regards the
Crusades themselves, considered as a religious movement,
it is probable that Shropshire was much less affected than
other coimties which were in closer touch with the conti-
nent;.; but their influence was nevertheless considerable.

There is no record that the western shires contributed
any large number to the motley crew whidi formed the
vanguard of the first Crusade under Peter the Hermit and
Walter the Pennyless, but when, a little later, men like
Robert Curthose, son of the Conqueror, assumed the Cross,
there is little doubt that he would have Salopians among
his followers, especially as Robert de Belesme, Earl of
Shrewsbury, was among the friends and supporters of that
prince

In the second Crusade the effect of the movement

Religious Movements 83

was more apparent It is beyond doubt that it was joined
by men of position in the county, for William Peverel,
Lord of Sutton Maddock, was among those who died
in Palestine in the course of it This Crusade also num-
bered among its victims one who was still better known,
who has been already mentioned in another connection.
This was Roger de Clinton, Bishop of Chester, who had
already founded Buildwas Abbey. He joined the Cru-
sade in 1 147, and died at Antioch the following year.
The most interesting glimpse, however, of the relation
of the Crusades to the common Hfe of the times in this
part of England, is given us by Giraldus Cambrensis in
his account of the preaching of a Crusade, in which he
himself took part It was in the spring of 1188 that
Archbishop Baldwin, who had succeeded to the See of
Canterbury three years before, determined to pay a visit
to Wales to kindle if possible among the Welsh that
enthusiasm for the Cross which burned in his own breast^
He chose as his companion Giraldus — ^whose real name
was Gerald de Barri — ^who was at that time Archdeacon
of Brecon in the diocese of Menevia, or St. David's.
Giraldus was in his element. Lighthearted and, above
all, exceedingly well satisfied with himself, he felt all the
importance of personally conducting the Archbishop
through his own coimtry, and his narrative everjrwhere
shows how he enjoyed his task. The Archbishop and he
began their progress at Hereford, and spent a mpnth in
South Wales. They then passed somewhat hurriedly
through North Wales, and spent Easter at Chester ; then,
turning south again, they passed through Whitchiurch and
Oswestry to Shrewsbury, where they took a few da)rs
rest, and then through Wenlock, Ludlow, and Leominster
back to Hereford. He speaks of successful preaching of the
Crusade at various places on the route. At Chester " the
Archbishop's discourses induced several to be signed with

I He afterwards joined the Crusade himself, and died in Palestine in
1191.

84 Memorials of Old Shropshire

the cross and join the Crusade." At Oswestry he relates
an incident which had taken place there a short time
before, which throws considerable light on the manners
and th4ught of the period : —

Bishop ReyneriusI [of St. Asaph] was preachings a Crusade; several
had taken the cross and were urging and entreating one of their comrades,
a youth of great bodily strength, to join them. His answer was thtss
**When I have avenged my master's death with this spear which now
I hold in my hand, then and then only will I join you," by ^ laaster "
meaning Owain, son of Madoc, a great and distinguished dKbf who had
not long ago been done to death by his cousin, Owain de Keveiliauc, under
circumstanees of the foulest treachery. As he spoke, maitered by his
anger and a yearning for revenge, he brandished his spear wildly in the
air ; it broke off short of its own accord on either side of his fingers and
fell to the ground, leaving in his hand nothing, as it were, except a
handful of the shaft. Amazed and terrified at this portent, which he
interpreted as a most direct call from heaven to him to take the cross,
he hesitated no longer, but there and then volunteered for the Crusade.

At Shrewsbury, the Archdeacon cannot help praising
himself: —

Here, too, thanks to the admonitions of the Archbishop, and the
gracious sermons of the Archdeacon of Menevia, we persuaded many to
follow the cross.S

How many of these cruet signati actually went abroad
it is very difficult to determine. They were allowed tmder
certain /rircimistances to redeem their personal service by
a pecuniary payment The number, however, who joined
the Crusade of 1 189 under Richard I. and Philip of France
was large, and among those who fell in the capture of
Acre, which was its principal incident, is said to have been
Roger de Plowden, a Shropshire knight, who had received
a special addition to his coat of arms for his conspicuous
bravery.

1 Bp. Re^er was a benefactor to Oswestry, founding a hospital there
in the openmg y^ars of the thirteenth century, which be afterwards put
in charge of toe Knights Hospitallers. Cf, £yton*s Antiquttitt, vol. z.,

P- 346.

t C/. " Giraldus Cambrensis in Shropshire,*' by the Author, in
Shropshire Arcfutological Society's Transactions, 3rd series, vol. iii., f. 37.

Religious Movements 85

In the Crusade of the followii^ century, which was led
in the first instance by Louis IX. (St Louis), Shropshire
appears to have taken a more distinguished part The
English leader was Prince Edward, afterwards Edward I.,
and his military reputation and personal popularity secured
him a large following. Among Shropshire knights who
joined him, in 1270, were Hamo le Strange, Lord of
Stretton, and his brother Robert, of whom the former died
during the Crusade, and the latter apparently returned with
shattered health. It was not long, however, before Edward
himself was recalled home by the death of his farther, and
so the last of the Crusades, properly so called, came to
an end Shakespeare indeed represents Henry IV., nearly
a century and a half later, as proposing to lead an expe-
dition

To chase the pagans in those holy fields
Over whose acres walked those blessed feet
Which fonrteen hundred jrears ago were nailed
For our advantage on the bitter cross.

But by the time the fifteenth century dawned, the day of
the Crusades was gone by for ever, and Henry's intention,
even if he really had formed it, speedily came to nought

The Crusades, however, gave birth to two Orders of
mihtary monks — ^the Knights Hospitallers and the Knights
Templars. Of these the Order of the Knights IJospital-
lers, or Knights of St John of Jerusalem, was slig^y
the earlier in foundation, and lasted longest; but both
were the outcome of the enthusiasm of the first Crusade.
The Hospitallers had their origin in a hospital dedicated
to St John the Baptist, which had been built at Jerusalem
as early as the middle of the eleventh century for the use
of pili^ims to the Holy Places. After the capture of the
dty under Godfrey de Bouillon, those in charge of the
Hospital were joined by others from the Christian army,
and tbtey were soon after enrolled into a religious Order,
their special duty being the protection of pilgrims. It was
a necessary outcome of the time that the Order became

86 Memorials of Old Shropshire

militaiy, and the result was that men of high rank became
members, and wealth rapidly flowed into their treasury.
Commanderies, as they were called, were established as
branches of the Order, first in maritime cities for the
benefit of pilgrims, and then elsewhere throughout Europe.
After the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin, the Hospitallers
moved their headquarters in 1191 to Acre, whence a
century later they retired to Cyprus, and thence to Rhodes,
and Anally to Malta.

The Templars had a shorter term of existence. They
took their rise in 11 19, when a small body of French
knights who had accompanied Godfrey de Bouillon bound
themselves to protect the Holy Places, and those who
visited them. They were assigned quarters on the site
of the Temple, and hence received their name. Their
growth as an Order resembled that of the Hospitallers,
between whom and themselves there grew up the fiercest
jealousy. Their bravery became a pattern to Europe, but
their independence of episcopal authority, combined with
their wealth and haughtiness, brought on them almost
universal detestation,^ and in the opening years of the
fourteenth century they were suppressed, their suppression
being marked, especially in France, by circumstances of
great barbarity.

Shropshire had two establishments belonging to these
military orders, one at Lydley Heys, in the parish of Car-
dington, near Church Stretton, and the other at Halston,
between Oswestry and Ellesmere. The manor of Lydley
Heys passed into the possession of the Templars, and
became a Preceptory of that Order about the year 11 55.
At their suppression in 1308 it became the property of the
Hospitallers, from whom, however, it soon passed to the
Earl of Arundel

The history of Halston is more obscure. That, too,
is said to have belonged to the Templars, but if so it

1 VTeader^ of Scott will remember his character of the Templar, Sir
Brian de Bois-Guilbert, in Ivanhoe,

Religious Movements 87

passed to the Hospitallers at an early period, for it was
in their possession in 122 1. No buildings remain in either
instance, but at Halston a trace of its history is to be found
in the fact that the little Church remained extra-parochia),
and therefore independent of episcopal authority, down to
modem times.

In following this sketch of monastic history, it will be
noticed that the largest proportion of religious houses were
founded in the most turbulent period of feudalism,
especially during the anarchy of Stephen's reign. The fact
illustrates the value of the monastic system when it was
at its best Monasteries were the resting-places for travel-
lers when there were few or no inns; they supplied the
wants of the poor when workhouses were undreamed of ;
they multiplied books and kept learning alive before the
age of printing; but beyond this, in times of feudal
oppression their walls were the refuge of the weak, and
of those for whom the temptations of the world had proved
too strong. It was well that those who had not strength
to fight should have opportunity to pray, and that those
whom the world had soiled should have quiet opportunity
to repent Roger de Montgomery, retiring to his founda-
tion at Shrewsbury, was only one instance among many of
such a desire, and we must judge it by the light of that
age and not otu: own.

It is a beautiful picture which Tennyson has drawn in
his Idylls of the King, when he tells how Guinevere came
back to a pure life in the nunnery of Almesbury : —

They took her to themselTes ; and she
Dwelt with them, till in time their Abbess died.
Then she, for her good deeds and her pare life,
And for the power of ministration in her.
And likewise for the high rank she had borne,
Was chosen Abbess; there, an Abbess, lived
For three brief years, and there, an Abbess, passed
To where beyond these Toices there is pea<%.l

1 Tennyson, Idylls of iMi King, ^^ Guinevere.** "*

88 Memorials of Old Shropshire

(3) THE FRIAR5 AND lOLLARDS

By the timp when the twelfth cenltuiy dosed» the best
work of the monastic system was done. This indeed would
not havd been allowed by its members at the time, for
monastic houses went on long after that period increasing
both in number and outward prosperity, but we who look
back over the centuries have no difficulty in arriving at the
condusjpn stated The growth of the spiritual life of the
monks had not kept pace with the growth of material pros-
perity. It had become the object of the monasteries to be
great landowners — ^their granges in various parts which
required supervision brought laxity of discipline to those
to whom the charge was committed, and who were thus
removed from supervision themselves — ^while, within the
wall of the monastery, wealth brought its accompaniment
of incre^ed luxury.

It was not long before the inevitable reaction set in,
and the religious life of the nation was revived by the
coming of the Friars. This movement, it will be remem-
bcied, owed its origin to two leaders who, differing in race
and coufttry, and with different ends in view, arrived about
the same time at similar conclusions as to the wants of
the age and the methods by which those wants should be
met One was St Dominic, a Spaniard, bom in 1 170 ; the
other was an Italian, St Francis of Assisi, bom in 1182.
The object with which St Dominic set out was the
conversion of heretics, that of St Francis was the help of
the poor and needy, and the method which sug^sted itself
tQ both was personal association with those whom they
desired to influence, and willingness to share their lot,
however humble and however degraded

The essential idea of the work of the Friars was not,
as in the monastic system, the care of the individual soul,
but ministration to the wants of othei^ ; and in the case
of St Francis in particular, this enthusiasm to follow in
the steps of the Divine Master "Who came not to be

Religious Movements 89

ministered unto, but to minisler,'' reached such a point
that, according to tradition, his body caught the enthusiasm
of his spirit, so that liis hands and feet and side became
niarked with the stigmata of the Master's Passion.

There were points of difference of detail ih coflhection
with the work as sketched in the minds respectiVely of
St Dominic and St Francis, but when each had founded
an Order, the work of both became practically the same,
as they mutually influenced one another. The Franciscans
rose to a proper appreciation of the value of learning,
which St Francis himself had despised, and the Domini-
cans adopted the vows of poverty which originated with
St Francis.

Their sphere of work was in direct contrast to that of
the monks, being almost entirely confined to the towns.
In these there had been gradually growing up a mass of
humanity ahnost outside religious influence. The develop-
ment of " slum ** life had begun, and to the Friars is due the
credit of making the earliest effort to cope with it For
a ccQtury or more before their coming, the towns had been
growing in size and importance, but alongside of tb(^
prosperous trade gilds there grew up a population of
workers who did not come under their fostering care,
whose work was precarious and their wages uncerjtain;
and to these were added the vagabonds who had inade
the country too hot to hold them, and sought to hide
themselves from various penalties among the more crowded
population of the town. This refuse of city life naturally
found a home in the most insanitary quarters, where wits
indeed were sharp, but where filth and loathsome diseases*
reigned unchecked This mass of degraded humanity,
however, was exactly what appealed to the wide charity
of men like St Francis, and before the middle of the
thirteenth century settlements of Friars were to be found
in most of the towns.'

The Franciscans, or Grey Friars, had houses at Shrews-
bury and Bridgnorth; the Dominicans^ or Black Friars,

go Memorials of Old Shropshire

at Shrewsbury ; the Carmelites at Ludlow ; and the Austin
Friars (who must not be confused with the Austin Canons)
had no less than three settlements in the county, namely,
at Shrewsbury, Ludlow, and Woodhouse, near Cleobury
Mortimer.

The Carmelites, also known as White Friars, derived
their name from Mount Carmel, where a settlement of
hermits had been formed in the time of the Crusades^ and
being driven out of Palestine by the Saracens^ became
identified with the Friars, and were approved as such by
Pope Innocent IV., about 1250.

The origin of the Austin Friars, or Friars Eremites, is
somewhat obscure, but the Order seems to have been
formed by the union of several smaller bodies, efiFected by
Pope Clement IV. about 1265.

The above-mentioned were the four principal Orders.
There were several others of less importance, but as they
had no settlements in Shropshire they need not be noticed
here.

A study of the sites chosen by the Friars in all the
Shropshire settlements goes to throw light on their work
They generally took up their abode in the most uninviting
quarters of the town, on the river marsh, or by the town
ditch, on ground that was more or less waste. There are
only two exceptions to this, and one of them is doubtful
The site of the Dominican house at Shrewsbury, below
the present Infirmary, had some pleasant surroundings, but
it was near the river, and probably liable to floods. The
only real exception is the site of the Austin Friars' settle-
ment at Woodhouse. This is in the country, not in a
town, but the choice may perhaps be accounted for by
the fact that the Order was formed by the amalgamaticm
of several existing bodies, and that in the latter half of
the fifteenth century, which is the date of the only exist-
ing record of its beloi^fing to the Austin Friars,^ the

1 Shropshire Archaohgical Sccuty^s Transactions, yoI. ii., 1st series,

p. S2.

Religious Movements 91

Order had not only spread widely, but had lost some of
its primitive simplicity.

The Dominicans and Franciscans had both begun their
work in England between 1220 and 1225, and it at first
was an untold boon to those among whom they laboured
Their preaching and ministration brought hope to the
leper and the outcast, and taught the sin-stained the
gospel of pardon and peace ; while their poverty was the
sign of the reality of their sympathy.

But the system had its elements of weakness. The
Friars began by living on the alms of the people, they
ended in being professional beggars ; they beg^an by caring
for those who had been outside the care of the parish
priest, they ended in deliberately undermining and thwart-
ing his work. The result was that by the close of the
fourteenth century the system had become wholly dis-
credited, and the name of friar was regarded as almost
synonymous with ignorance, mendacity, and vice. Indeed,
by that time the religious life of the country had again
fallen to a low ebb. To see this we have only to turn to
the pages of two contemporary poets, who were bom and
died within a few years of eadi other, and have left us a
striking picture of the time One was William Langland,
author of the Vision of Piers Plowman, the other
was Geoffrey Chaucer. Langland's poem is of special
interest to Salopians, inasmuch as he was probably a
Salopian himself, bom at Cleobury Mortimer about 1332.
His long allegorical poem, written in alliterative metre,
consists of a series of visions, in which he incidentally
describes, in the spint of true satire, the abuses, civil and
religious, which abounded in the second half of the four-
teenth century. Many of these were faults of human
nature confined to no one period of history, but others
were characteristic of the time, and the Friars came
repeatedly under his lash. For example, in the opening
vision of the * Field Full of Folk,** he saw

92 Memorials of Old Shbcpshire

Friars of all the four Orders,

Who preached to the people for personal profit,

Aa it seemed to them good, put a gloss on the gospel.

And explained it at pleasure; they coveted copes. l

And later on he introduces a friar as ready to confess
and absolve Lady Meed (that is Bribery) for a peamiary
consideration, without any rq^d to penitence-. —

Tho' falsdiood had followed thee for fifty years,
I soon would assoil thee for a sackfnl of wheat.

But along with the Friars he introduces another
ecclesiastical character whose influence for evil was still
worse. This was the Pardoner, who went up and down
the country selling pardons or indulgences.

There preached too a pardoner, a priest as he seemed.
Who brought forth a bull, with the bishop's seals,
And said he himself might absolve them all
Of falsehood in fasting, or vows they had broken.
The laymen believed him, and liked well his words.
Came up and came kneeling, to kiss the said bull :
He blessed them right bravely, and blinded their eyes.
And won with his roll both their rings and their brooches.

If we turn to Chaucer, who was bom within ten years
of Langland, and probably died in the identical ycBi of
his death, we find the same characters and the same
abuses.

Among the pilgrims who assembled at the Tabard Iim
in Southwark to take their journey together to the Shrine
of St Thomas at Canterbury, as related in his Prologue,
were both a friar and a pardoner as well as a monk and
a ]|un. The poet has depicted all in unfading colours,
but only a few allusions can be made here.

Chaucer's Friar, like Langland's,

1 Quoted from TJU Vision of Piers Phmmam dnu into Modem
English, by Professor Skeat.

Reugious Movements 93

Had power of confession
As said himself, more than a cnrate.
For of his order he was licentiate.
Fall sweetly heard he confession.
And pleasant was his absolution.
He was an easy man to give penance,
There as he wist to have a good pittance . . .
. . . Instead of weeping and prayers
Men might give silver to the poor friars.

His Pardoner, too, had his wallet

Brimful of pardons come from Rome all hot,

together with a store of relics which he found very profit-
able for the extraction of money from the pockets of the
faithful The prominent feature of the poet's portraits
of the monk and nun of his time is their air of prosperity.
The world went well with them both, as shown aUke in
their manners and their dress. In her case it is only
politely hinted that she was of goodly proportions, but he
is more bluntly described : —

He was a lord full fat and in good point.

We must not, however, from this think that everyone
was degenerate, and that the salt of religious life had
wholly lost its savotu:. Langland has given us in his hero.
Piers the Plowman, the picture, drawn from contemporary
life, of one who had followed truth for fifty long years^
who whether he digged or delved, sowed or reaped, did
everything from Christian motive; while as to Chaucer,
there is no more beautiful character to be fotmd in
English literature than his picture of the parson or secular
parish priest — a man poor in substance but rich in holy
thought and work — who did not allow rain or thunder
to prevent his trudging to the furthest end of his wide
and scattered parish to visit his parishioners in sickness
or distress; who instead of going to London in search
of preferment, stayed at home to shepherd the flock

94 Memorials of Old Shropshire

committed to him; who, in a word, sought no honour
for himself,

Bat Christ's lore and His Apostles tweWe,
He taught, but first he followed it himselve.

Many causes, however, were now at work to brix^
about a change in religious thought and feeling. The
concluding years of the fourteenth century were a period
of unrest for various reasons, social and political, as weD
as ecclesiastical In the political world the power had
gradually passed out of the hands of the baronage into
those of the commons, while social changes had put life
into the classes below.

The havoc wrought by the Blade Death, whose ravages
it is hardly possible to exaggerate, with its result of short-
ness of labour and demands for higher wages, awakened
aspirations which culminated in the Peasants' Revolt in
1 38 1. And along with this social and political awakening,
knowledge was making itself more widely felL Men
began to think and write in the homely English tongue,
which appealed to all, and when writers like Langland and
Chaucer showed up abuses in Church and State in
language which all could understand, the doom of those
abuses was sealed, however long the end might be delayed.
It was reserved, however, for Wycliffe to impart the final
impulse to this current which had set in. He did this
when, about 1380, he issued the first translation of the
Bible in English ; and by degrees he became the central
figure of the movement, especially in its reUgious aspect

John Wycliffe was a man of whose character and work
very various estimates have been formed, and it is beyond
the scope of this chapter to discuss them in detail None
can dispute his influence, whether they approve of it or
not He stood in the first rank of learned men at Oxford,
and he set himself resolutely to face the problems of his
time. It was impossible for him to be satisfied with
things as they were, either in Church or State. Men were

Religious Movements 95

tired of the tyranny of the Papal See, and when to the
other abuses which had grown up the Papacy added the
scandal of two rival Popes, one at Rome and one at
Avignon, each claiming equal power over the Church,
thoughtful men like Wycliffe easily broke free from their
alliance. At first he was only a reformer, anxious to
get rid of abuses in practice, but by degrees he went
further. He felt that the influence of his sworn enemies,
the monks and friars, had its roots not in practice but in
doctrine — ^in the sacerdotal daim which derived its power
frcMn the {urevailing view of the Mass — and he went on jto
attack the doctrine of Transubstantiation, and other dogmas
closely connected with it. Not only by his own preaching
from his pulpit at Lutterworth and by the publication of
pamf^et after pamphlet, but by means of "poor
preadiers," whom he organized and sent out, in imitation
of the friars, he endeavoured to bring his teaching home
to the common people. His followers became known as
Lollards, and Lollaidry took firm hold of Shropshire, as it
did more or less of all the midlands, between the Thames
and the Trent

The evidence of this is somewhat fragmentary and
circumstantial, but it appears conclusive. It groups itself
largely round two names, who were regarded by one party
as heretics, and by the other as martyrs for the truth.
The first of these was William Thorpe, a priest who comes
into notice in the ycai 1407, when he preached a sermon
in St Chad's Church, Shrewsbury, in which he inveighed
strongly against the abuses of the Chturch, and promul-
gated the special views held by the Lollards on the sacra-
ment of the altar and other matters. It is not probable
that he took this bold step without encouragement Sir
Roger Acton, who sympathized with his views, resided in
the town,^ and Thorpe himself was probably connected
with the neighboturhood. His views did not indeed meet

1 Owen and Blakewajr*! History of SMrowsbmry, vol. i., p. 202 [note].

96 Memorials of Old Shropsiore

with encouragement from thiQ town authorities^ for he was
thrown into prison, and a few weeks later was removed to
Lambeth, when he was arraigi^ed before the Axchbisbop
of Canterbury on a formal complaint from the Bailiflb and
Common Council This Archbishop was Thomas Arandd,
brother of Richard Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, and as such
was weU acquainted with Shrewsbury and the neighbour-
hood. Thorpe's examination before him is gitea in detail
in Foxe's Acts and Monuments, and the ArchbiBbop's ques-
tions seem to show that he was speaking from personal
knowlHOge. He appears, moreover, anxious not oidjr to
be fair to his prisoner, but if possible to give hun a loop-
hole of escape from the consequences of hid oj^iniaiis ; and
as there is no record of any further punishment being
inflicted on Thorpe, and no record of hb recanting them,
there is at least a probability that local influence was
sufficiently strong to procure his release.

The other prominent Lollard aroimd whom interest
centres was a man of higher position and greater influence.
This was Sir John Oldcastle, known also by courtesy as
Lord Cobham from his having married the heiress of that
title. It may be well, however, in passing, to allude to
some other men of position in this part of Ei^land whose
fostering care did much to promote the spread of the
new opinions. At a period somewhat before that in which
Sir John Oldcastle became conspicuous as a LoDard, more
than one of the contem{X)rary chroniclers mention amox^
the English nobility and knighthood the following as
favouring Lollardry : — Richard Stury, Lewis Qlfflofd, John
Clarivowe, Thomas Latimer, and John Montague.^ Two
at least of these held property in Shropshire. The family
of Stury belonged to Rossall, near Shrewiburyi and were
closely associated with the town itself. This same Ridiard
Stury was one of the t>yelve burgpsses af pointed by the
Bailiffs and commonalty of the Town of Salop, under

1 Walsingham eivet these names twice with a slight Taiiition, vol. ii.,
p. 159, and p. a 16; Trokeiow also, p. 174 (Rolls senes).

REUGIOUS MOVEMENtS 97

the advice of the Earl of Anindel, in the year I38i» as a
Committee to reform abuses and secure better order among
the inhabitants ; and another Richard Stury» ai^)arently hb
grandson, was one (rf the first aldennen of the borough, and
served the office of bailifiE no less than four times.^

The fomily of Clifford originally belonged to Here-
fordsf^iie, where, at CliflEord Castle, on the Wye, near to
Hay, tradition says that Rosamund Clifford— the "Fair
Rosamund" of Henry 11. — was bom. In connection with
her the family came into their Shropshire estates, Henry
having granted to her father the important Manor of
Corfham in Corvedale in the year 1 178.^

It wiU be seen that if the representatives of famiUes
like these gave their support and favour to the Lollards,
the system would not fail to gain a secture footing, both
in Shrewsbury and the county generally. And this pro-
bability is increased when we turn to study the career of
Sir John OMcastle himself. Though it does not appear
that he possessed any property actually in Shropshire, he
was closely connected with its borderland. He was pro-
bably bom at no great distance from its southern boundary,
where lus family were Lords of the Manor of Almeley,
near Weobley, in Herefordshire; and when at a later
period of his life he was in hiding, his first plactf of con-
cealment was in the neighbourhood of Malvern, not far
from the boundary in another direction.

It is beyond the scope of this book to trace his career
in detail, or to do more tiban allude to the opposite opinions
exfK'essed as to his character— opinions which on the one
hand made him the original of Shakespeare's Sir John
Falstaff, and on the other regarded him as a* martyred
saint He was probably neither one nor the other, for
though a trusted friend of Henry V., there is no trace of
dissoluteness ifi the fpendship, and on the other hand,

^ » — *'

1 Owen tnd Blakewny, • yol. i., p. 1691 and p. 214.
9 SAro^skin Arckaolcgical Sod§tfs Transarti^s^ 3rd series, ▼<il. ii.,
p. 252.
H

98 Memorials of Old Shropshire

though he began by a sinceie devotion to the religious
principles which he believed to be the truth* he can hardly
be acquitted later on of crime. against the political and
social order of the realm. Shropshire* however, was
closely, if indirectly, associated with the end of his career.
Having been arrested for heresy, and tried before Arch-
bishop ^Vrundel in 141 3, he escaped from the Tower and
remained in hiding for over three years, partly in LondoB,
but mainly in the West Midlands, and his immunity from
discovery for so long a time is the best proof both of his
personal popularity and of the spread of the opinions with
which he was identified At length, however, the end
came, and it was on the Shropshire border that the arrest
was made. Local tradition says that his last place of
concealment was among the Montgomeryshire hills near
Meifod,^ and here, in 141 7, he was captured by the emis-
saries of Lord Powis after a severe struggle, in which
some of his captors were slain, and he himself severely
wounded Conveyed in a horse litter first to Welshpool,
and afterwards to London, he was hung, and then burnt
in St Giles* Fields, in December of that year.

After his death the power of LoUardry as an aggressive
force waned and gradually died away, but the seed had
been sown and was in due time to bear fruit That fruit
came to full maturity in the Puritanism of the seventeenth
century, but before then another great religious upheaval
was to take place for which Lollardry had helped to
prepare. That upheaval was the religious movement
which we speak of as the Reformatioa

(4) THE REFORMATION AND PURITANISM

The Reformation, it should be remembered, was an
inevitable fact of history apart from its religious aspect
For a century and a half before the accession of

1 Readers of TenDTson will remember his description of Sir John
Oldcastle among the Welsh hills {Ballads and other Poems, 1880).

Religious I^ovements 99

Hemy VIII. undercurrents had been at work which were
certain sooaer or later to produce their tesult As
ahcady mentioned, the old baronage with its feudal rights
had almost disappeared in the Wars of the Roses; the
towns had risen into importance, and their citizens of the
trading dass had become an important factor in the state ;
while the Black Death and its effect on wages had
awakened aspirations in the peasantry of which they were
incapable at an earlier period And alongside of these
political and social changes, a new and unthought of
stimulus had been given to the intellectual progtess of
the nation. Poets and prose writers had not only written
books which spoke to the people in their own tongue, but
the invention of printing had brought these books in-
creasingly within their reach, and thus the New Learning,
as it was called, was everywhere making its way and
shedding its light, until men refused any longer to bow to
mere authority, but dared to think for themselves, with
the result that the dogmas of the Church had to face a
criticism undreamt of in earlier ages. This criticism was
helped by the state of the Church itself. Monastidsm and
the system of the friars had alike done their work and
become a byeword for what was degenerate and corrupt ;
and while the assiunptions of the priesthood had been
constantly growing, their power for good had been as
constantly diminishing, until the alienation between clergy
and laity was almost complete. The appeal to scripture
which Wycliffe and the Lollards had begun, and which
had been stimulated by his translation of the Bible into
English, had not been made in vain, and it was only a
question of time when, to borrow a comparison from the
Book of Job, the great wind should come from the wilder-
ness and smite the four comers of the house of mediaeval
Papacy, and bring it in ruin on the heads of those whom
it sheltered

The immediate cause of the rupture with Rdme was
little creditable to anyone concerned, for it had its origin

3^76S6B

loo Memorials of Old Shr(^shire

in the headstrong will and unbridled passions of
Henry VIII. Shropshire had been familiar with the figures
of his elder brother Arthur and his Spanish Inride Katharine
of Arragon, when they had presided over the Council of
the Marches and kept their court at Ludlow Castle: But
Prince Arthur died after only a few months of married
life, while his father, Henry VII., still reigned; and his
death brought a difficulty to the king. The weakness of
Henry VII. was his love of money, and Katharine had
brou^t with her a rich dowry which he was unwilling to
lose. The difficulty was got over by espousing Arthur's
widow to his younger brother Henry, then a boy of elevea
The result was what mig^ht have been anticipated ; Heniy,
when he grew up and came to the throne, soon tired of
this wife, who had been provided for him without his
choice, and who by this time was faded in person as weD
as grave and solemn in disposition and manner. The
sprightly and vivacious Anne Boleyn was much mc^re to
his taste, and in the light of her attractions he developed
scruples as to the validity of his marriage with Katharine
It is beyond the scope of this work to trace the pro-
ceedings in connection with the divorce and his rupture
with the Pope. Henry threw off the Papal supremacy, but
it was only to assume it himself, and he never sympathised
with the doctrines of the Reformatioa As far as he
himself was concerned, he was an unintentional promoter
of it as a religious movement, and there is room for the
satirical lines of Gray, who speaks of his reign as a time

When love could teach a monarch to be wise,
And Gospel light first dawned from Bole3m's eyes.

The religious progress of the Reformation is to be
found in the history of the reigns of his three children.
That of Edward VI. was marked by much soUd work,
especially in the two editions of the Prayer Book in Eng-
lish, but it was marred by a spoliation of Church property
which equalled, if it did not surpass, the suppression of

Religious Movements ioi

the monasteries in Henry's time. Then came the re-action
of Mar/s reign — ^the effort to restore mediaeval doctrines
and usages, and to heal the breach with the Papacy, but
the time had gone by when this was possible, and the
attempt to check the rising tide only a4ded to its force
when Mary passed away and Elizabeth succeeded to the
throne. Her long and prosperous reign brought com-
parative peace both to Chturch and State Under her
strong hand, and by the wise counsek of her advisers,
discordant elements were brought into a measure of har-
mony, and the reformed religion was generally accepted
as that of the nation.

As to the question how the Reformation movement
affected Shropshire, and what part the county took in it,
the answer is difficult, for the materials are scanty. The
answer, however, lies in the direction of what we have
seen in connection with Lollardry. The West Midlands
were largely leavened with the Reformed opinions, but
the people of Shropshire have never been made of the
stuff out of which martyrs are manufactured ; and so all
through the Reformation period they were largely content
to go quietly on their way, letting others alone, and asking
only to be let alone themselves.

As far as can be gathered from a cursory study of
Foxe's Acts and Monuments^ although it is often difficult
to pick out facts from his prolix narrative, Shropshire
furnished, with periiaps two doubtful exceptions,^ no
contingent to the martyrs who fed the flames of Smithfield
or elsewhere ; while the record of the Churches of Shrews-
bury tells us of vicars undisturbed in their duties all
through the period of change.^ In 1547, indeed, there
was a burning in the Market Square of that town. Its
victims, however, were not of flesh and blood, but only

I Acts and M^mmtints (edition 1S42), toI. v., p. 550, and vol. vii.,
p. 402. Comiuire Shr^fishirt Areha^iogieal Sceuty*s TyanstutUnst vol. iii.,
p. 258, and FalleT*8 WortkUs (edition 181 1), vol. ii., p. 256.

S Cf, the Antlior's Skrtwsbmry, p. 140.

I02 Memorials of Old Shropshire

"the pycture of our Lady owt of St Mar/s, and the
pycture of Mary Mawdelen, and the pycture of St Chaddes
owt of Sainct Chadd's church in the same towne." ^

This was done in obedience to an injunction issued
under the authority of Edward VL, soon after his acces-
sion, and throws lig^t on the attitude which seems to have
prevailed in the county towards the various changes made.
It was an attitude on the part of the peoj^ generaUy of
something not far removed from indifiPerence ; they were
content to obey orders and accept changes from the
ruling power, but they had no strong feeling about the
matter either way. This attitude is traceable in the ac^
of the mimicipal authorities, as, for example, in r^^anl to
the dissolution of the monasteries. The Shrewsbury
Corporation apparently accepted the fiat of the king for
dissolving their great Abbey as a matter of course, but
they petitioned that, being dissolved, it should be utilized
either as a house of reception for distinguished visitors or
as a school. They did not oppose ; they only desired that
the town might be benefited by the change when it was
made. So with the spoliation of the Church goods under
Edward VI. ; no doubt there were murmurs, but there is
no trace of active opposition.

It is not intended by this to imply that individuab did
not feel strongly on both sides, or did not give expression
to their feelings on occasion ; and no better illustration
can be given of this attitude of individuals than the well-
known story of the death of Edward Burton, of Longner,
as related in Phillips's History of Shrewsbury —

Edward Burton was a zealous assertor of the Gospel all Queen Mary's
dajs . . . He one daj sitting in his parlour alone, meditating on the
troubles of the times, and the deliverances he and others had found
though many had suffered, while he was thus reflecting, he heard a general
ringing of all the bells in Shrewsbury, which he concluded must be for the
accession of the Lady Elizabeth to the throne, by the death of Queen Mary.
Longing to know the truth, and not daring to send any of his terrants

1 Shropshire Archaological Society s TrttmsetionSt roL liL, p. 258.

Religious Movements 103

to enquire, he sent his eldest toa, a youth about sizteea yean of age,
ordering him, if the bells rang for the Lady Elizabeth's accession, to
throw his hat up into the air at some place from whence he might see it,
to gratify his expectation. The young man, finding it was as expected,
threw up his hat, which his father seeing, was suddenly aff^ted with
tuch extremity of joy for the liberty and comfort God's people had a
p ro a pe c t of, that he retired from the window where he saw the sign, with
difficulty gained a chair, and immediately expired. By his last will he
ordered that his body should be buried in the Parish Church of St. Chad
in Shrewsbury, and that no Mass-monger should be present at his inter-
ment. His friends, designing to execute his will in this respect, brought
his corpse to the church, and were there met by the Curate, Mr. John
Marshall, who said that Mr. Burton was an heretic, and should not be
buried in his church. One of Mr. Burton's friends replied, "As to his
being an heretic, God would judge at the last day." The Curate replied,
** Judge God or judge DcTil, he shall not be buried in this Church."
His friends were obliged to carry his body back again and bury it in his
own garden. His epitaph declares that he

Truly professing Christianity,
Waa like Christ Jesus in a garden laid.
Where he shall rest in Peace, till it be said,
" Come, laithful Senrant, come receive with Me
A just reward for thy Integrity."

We pass on to the later developments of the
Reformation movement When the reign of Elizabeth
was drawing to a close, there were in England three
religious parties whose differences were becoming
more and more accentuated, though the spirit of
active persecution was gradually dying out There
were, first, those who had never accepted the change
of doctrine and still owned all^iance to the Pope.
Alongside of these were the adherents of the
Reformed Faith, who accepted as its best exponent
the formularies of the English Church and Episcopacy as
its proper form of government But tmder Uie influence
of the Continental Reformers a third party had grown
upi These desired a more entire break with the past,
for which they had no reverence, and they could not
tolerate anything that was held in common with Rome,
however useful or harmless in itself. It might be
episcopacy, or it might be the use of a vestment, or of

104 Memorials of Old Shropshire

a Liturgy, but in their eyes all such usages alike were
tainted with superstition.

The members of this party at first were few in number,
and confined to those who possessed little mfltu^nr^^ but
as time went on this was changed. Men of position and
character threw in their adhesion to these pinciples, and
they gained weight indirectly from another cause.

From the time when the Stuarts came to the throne
there hegdoi to be an increasing divergence of personal
character between those whose religion was that of the
Court and those who were removed from its influence. The
people b^^an to contrast more and m(»e the loose lives
of men in high places with the strict lives of those whose
revolt from Rome was most complete. The members <^
this party called themselves Precisians, but that name was
lost in the nickname of Puritans, and they claimed to seek
a high ideal of personal life. This had weight with others
The Puritan might be solemn and sour in his demeanour,
but he lived a moral life ; he might despise the sports in
which others found delight, but his motive was religious,
and as such it won respect

Meanwhile a parallel divergence was going on in the
State. The party of those who adopted the doctrine and
discipline of the Reformed Church ot England were for
the most part strong also in their attachment to the
Monarchy. The Puritan party, who gradually separated
themselves from the Church as Nonconformists, were
largely imbued with a desire for increased political as
well as religious liberty, and in many cases favoured a
Republican form of government

These differences, as everyone knows, went on increas-
ing until they culminated in civil war. The efiPects of that
war on Shropshire in its political aspect form the subject of
another chapter. We have only here to do with its efiFects
viewed from the religious standpoint

When, on January 30th, 1649, the head of Charles I.
fell on the scadffold of Whitehall, it marked not only the

Religious Movements 105

triumi^ of Republicanism over Monarchy, but the triumph
of Puritanism over the Church, for parallel with encroach-
ments on the prerogative of the king, which ended in his
death, there had been going on the enforcement of
changes in the Established Church.

In 1643 the Parliament passed a Bill for the abolition
of Episcopacy, and this was followed by the appointment
of the Westminster Assembly, who tmdertook the revising
of the Church formularies. Ministers were ejected from
their cures as "scandalous" or " maligpiant," and funds
were raised by the sale of Church property. In January,
1645, ^c use of the Prayer Book was made penal, and
the Directory for Public Worship substituted

At first, indeed, Puritanism seemed satisfied with
changes that arose naturally out of the adoption of Presby-
terianism and its dread of everything that savoured of
Rome, but by degrees the power passed out of the hands of
the Presbyterians into those of the Independents, with the
result of increased narrowness and intolerance. Meanwhile,
however, the inevitable reaction set in. The execution of
Charles had shown to what length the Parliamentary party
could go in regard to the State, as that of Archbishop
Laud had shown in regard to the Church, and when
the power fell from the strong hand of Oliver Cromli^ell
into that of his son, the public opinion of the country
was ready to hail with delight the restoration of the old
order in both. Then came retaliation, the first step in
which was the passing of the Act of Uniformity, by which
in turn the Presbyterian Incumbents of the Churches were
ejected in favour of the old Vicars if still living, or of
others episcopally ordained The comparative blame on
each side in this matter of ejection, it need not be said,
has been a subject of fierce controversy, but surely at this
time we may learn to look on it calmly. It seems clear
from a study on the one hand of Walker's Sufferings of
the Clergy, and on the other of Calam/s Nonconformist^
Memorial, that there were at least as many episcopal

io6 Memorials of Old Shropshire

ministers dej^ived by the Puritans in the Conunomrealth
as there were Proibyterians deprived at the RestoratioiL

In Shropshire there were examples of both, but a study
of the Parish Registers of the period, and a consideration
of the prevailing political sentiment as shown in other
ways, goes to show that feelings were in this case, as in
the Reformation period, less strongly stirred in this part
of the West than in the further Midlands and the East;
and that, as a whole, Salopians were fairly content to live
and let live. This is shown for example in the numerous
instances in the Parish R^^ters in which the saint
Parochial Incumbent went on through the various changes^
and the regard of his parishioners was shown by his being
requested still to keep the Registers when the Parliament
ordained the appointment of an official for that purpose.

But we have other proofs beyond this. In 1646 a
system was inaugurated which was intended to establish
Presbyterianism. Instead of the existing divisions into
dioceses, archdeaconries, and rural deaneries, the parishes
were grouped in classes, and the names which occur in
connection with these classes throw considerable light on
the public opinion of any particular district It appears
from the list published in 1647 that the County of Salop
was divided into six " Classicall Presbyteries," of which the
first included the parishes of Shrewsbury and the neigh-
bourhood, the second those round Oswestry, the third
Bridgnorth, the fourth Wem, the fifth Ludlow, and the
sixth Stretton. A particular case will best illustrate the
position of affairs. In the list of Puritan nominations to
livings, to be found in the Journal of the Parliament, occurs
under the date of June 5th, 1648, the presentation of James
Cressett to Cound void by the death of Richard Wood*
A generation before this, Edward Cressett, of Upton
Cressett, near Bridgnorth, three of whose ancestors had
been Sheriff of the county, married the heiress of Sir Henry

1 Shaw*s Church under the Commcnweaith, ▼ol. ii., p. 257.

Religious Movements io/

Townsend of Cound, and came into that property, though
he retained his seat at Cotes in his M neighbourhood.
He had a numerous family, of whom James was the fourth
son. This James was educated at Oriel College, Oxford,
and married a daughter of John Edwards, of Middleton
Scrivea^ He was apparently a comparatively young man
when he was appointed "Minister" of Cotmd in 1648.

On turning to the list of the Shropshire " Classes," we
find among the list of laymen "fit to bee of the fifth
Classis," " Edward Cresset of Cotes, gent,"* showing that
other members of the family sympathized with the Par-
liament in religious matters, and no doubt used their
influence for the promotion of their relative.

We now turn to the Register Books of Cound Church,
and there, under 1662, we find two entries. The first
is this: —

Ye 3(1 day o! August Mr. James Cressett, Rector o! Cund, did pub*
likely in je time of Divine senrice read ye 39 Articles of ye Church of
England, and declared hia unfeyned assent to ye same, according to ye
Statute in that case provided. Witnesses hereunto [five signatures].

The second entry is as follows : —

The 17th day of August, i66a. Mr. James Cressett, Rector of Cond,
the same Lord's Day, in time of Divine Service, publiquely read the
declaration in the Act for Uniformitie expressed touching the Unlawfulnes
of the Covenant after the reading of his Certificat of his Subscription
to the aforesaid declaration, and did the same day solemnely and pub-
liquely read the Morning and Evening Prayer appointed to be read by the
taid Act, and did declare his unfeigned assent and consent thereunto, and
to everything therein conteined. In presence and heareing of [five signa-
tures, including Robt. Cressett (his nephew)].

The Act of Uniformity had required all Ministers to
assent to the Prayer Book, and repudiate the Covenant
on pain of immediate ejection from their Benefices, with
the further important addition that those who had not

1 Htraids* Visitation of Shropshire (Harleian Society), vol. i., p. 158.
S Shaw's Church under the Commonwealth, vol. ii., p. 411.

io8 Memorials of Old Shropshire

been episcopally ordained must immediately seek <»deis
at the hand of some bishop.

The extracts just given with regard to James Cressett
enable us to trace his career with tcJerable certainty, and it
may be taken as typical of many. It shows that the
Puritan ministers were not necessarily of an inferior social
position to those they displaced; and also that the
authorities in London were willing to be guided by local
opinion and family preferences. As there is no record
of James Cressett's seeking episcopal ordination at the
Restoration, it seems probable that he was episcopally
ordained before his admission in 1648. And, lastly, the
record of his conforming, whether accompanied by rc-
ordination or not, presents him as typical of those — of
whom there were certainly a considerable number in this
part of England — who had sympathized with much that
the Parliament had done, but had none of that zeal for
self-sacrifice which led others to face poverty and persecu-
tion rather than conform.

The number of Presbyterian ministers throughout the
county who either resigned their livings in 1660 or were
ejected in 1662, appears to be thirty-nine,^ and among
them were some whose departure was a distinct loss to
the Church — men like John Bryan and Francis Tallents,
of Shrewsbury, Rowland Nevett, of Oswestry, and Joshiia
Bamet, of Wrockwardine, not to mention others ; but no
account of Puritanism in Shropshire would be complete
without some notice of the most conspicuous of her Puritan
sons, though he was not actually beneficed within her
borders — namely, Richard Baxter.

Baxter was bom in 161 5 in the parish of High Ercall,
where the register of his baptism is as follows: —

Richard sonne and heyre of Richard Baxter of Eaton ConstaDt3nie,
gent, and of Beatrice his wief baptised the xixth of November 1615.

1 I am indebted for this calculation to the writer of the chapter on the
Civil War, who has made a special study of the period.

Religious Movements 109

He appears from childhood to have been weak and
uncertain in health, and this fact gave seriousness to his
character. As he expressed it, " Weakness and pain helped
me to study how to die : that set me on studying how to
Uve." He spent some time at the school at Donnington, in
the next parish to Eaton Constantine, but he tells us that
his education was very defective, and that he had mainly
taught himself. His family belonged to the Church, but
he draws a sad picture of the clergy in the Shropshire
parishes around his home, and of the way in which the
Sunda}rs were spent during the regime of the Book of
Sports, It is evident that the better lives of the Puritans
attracted him from an early period, and influenced all his
later life. In 1638 he received episcopal ordination horn.
the Bishop of Worcester, and he became Master of the
Grammar School at Dudley. His first ministerial charge
was at Bridgnorth, to the inhabitants of which he dedicated
his Saints' Rest. In 1640, however, he moved to Kidder-
minster as assistant to the old vicar of that town, and for
the next two years his work there met with much success.
On the breaking out of the Civil War he acted for some
time as chaplain in the Parliamentary army, where he used
his influence to mitigate the extreme views, both in religion
and politics, which were beginning to take possession of
the soldiery. He was soon, however, glad to return to
Kidderminster, which was his home for the next fourteen
years.

During this time he exercised great influence not only
in the town but over a wide district He was the
recognized adviser of the Puritan party all through the
West Midlands, and practically exercised episcopal control
over the ministers and their congregations. His influence
was always exerted on the side of moderation and toler-
ance, and when Cromwell assumed the supreme power,
Baxter did not hesitate to tell him to his face that "the
honest people of the land took their ancient monarchy to
be a blessing and not an evil"

no Memorials of Old Shropshire

At the Restoration he was made one of the King's
chaplains, and was ofiEered the Bishopric of Hereford, but
he declined it It is interesting to note that if his decision
had been otherwise, half of Shropshire would have been
uiyler his episcopal charge.

The Act of Uniformity of 1662 brought him trouUe,
for he could not make up his mind to conform, and so he
left Kidderminster; but that year also brought him the
greatest comfort of the next twenty years of his career,
namely, a wife. Some time before, after the partial
destruction of Apley Castle in the war, Margaret Charlton
had come to live at Kidderminster with her mother, and so
the two whose early homes had both been under the
shadow of the Wrekin, became acquainted. Baxter was
considerably the older, being not far short of fifty, whereas
she was little more than twenty ; but her heart had gone
out to the pastor who had helped her in spiritual things,
and when he had stipulated on the one hand that marriage
should not interfere with his ministerial work, and on the
other that her property should be secured to her, they
were married. It proved a singularly happy union, though
they had many trials to face together.

Not very long after their wedding Baxter spent some
time in prison, but his wife shared his incarceration, which
was not very severe, and he said of her : " My wife was
never so cheerful a companion to me as in prison ; and she
had brought so many necessaries that we kept house as
contentedly and comfortably as at home." He unfor-
tunately lost her in 1681, and he was left to face his
troubles alone.

In 1685 some passages in his Paraphrase on the New
Testament were held to be seditious, and he was tried by
Judge JeflFreys, who took the opportunity of insulting and
browbeating the old man after his fashioa He was con-
demned and sentenced to pay a heavy fine, with imprison-
ment till he did so, but through the exertions of Lord
Powis, the fine was remitted, and after an imprisonment

Religious Movements hi

of eighteen months he was released The remaining five
years of his life were midisturbed Years before, at
Kidderminster, he had written the book by which he is
best remembered — The Saints Everlasting Rest; and in
December, 1691, he was caUed himself to enter into that
Rest, which he had long desired, and for which his book
has helped to prepare many, both in his lifetime and the
generations since.

It may be said of Baxter that in many respects he was
typical of the Salopian way of looking at things : resolute
when principle was involved, but prepared to tolerate those
who could not see things as he saw them ; ready to give
as well as to take, and growing ever gentler as age drew
on. In a passage in his Autobiography, he sums up his
experience of life in words which may well end this review
of the time in which he lived : —

I DOW see more good and more evil in all men than heretofore I did.
I see that good men are not so good as I once thought they were, but
have more imperfections : and that nearer approach and fuller trial doth
make the best appear more weak and faulty than their admirers at a
distance think. And I find that few are so bad as either malicious enemies
or censorious separating professors do imagine. Even in the wicked,
usually there is more for grace to make advantage of, and more to testifie
for God and holiness, than I once believed there had been.

(5) QUAKERISM AND METHODISM

These two religious movements are grouped together,
not as connected in time, but in the leading idea which
gave rise to and pervaded both. Each had its origin in
mysticism. George Fox went up and down the country
preaching that there was an inward light which illumined
the individual soul, and had no need of external Church
organizations ; John Wesley having drunk from the fotm-
tain of mysticism in his Oxford days went up and down
preaching the doctrine of individual conversion by the
direct agency of the Spirit ; and though he was himself a

112 Memorials of Old Shropshire

pre-eminent organizer, aU the rules he laid down for his
followers were subservient to this prevailing idea.

Quakerism beg^ui in the Puritan period. Fox, its
founder, was bom in Leicestershire in 1624. Naturally
of a meditative disposition, his religious convictioos
deepened until he became impressed with the idea that he
must forsake all, and devote himself to the promulgaticm
of what appeared to him a revelation of new truth.
Accordingly he wandered from place to place, Bible in
hand, prepared to preach wherever he coidd find an
audience ; and he was specially ready to bear his testimony
in the interruption of any service conducted by one whom
he regarded as a mere outward " professor " i for he was
a thorough Puritan both in this and in his hatred of
"steeple houses" and bells. His views, however, went
further than religion ; he wished to remodel society. He
declared that the Lord forbade him to put off his hat to
any, high or low, and required him to address even the
greatest with ^Aee and ^kou. The natural result was that
he found himself in perpetual conflict with the authorities,
both dvil and religious, and he was well acquainted with
the inside of prisons. His tenets met with no more favour
from the Puritans than from the Church party, and even
the gentle and tolerant Baxter could not find anything to
say in their favour.

Strange, however, as it may seem. Fox met with great
success, and gained many adherents, particularly in the
northern part of England, a success which was no doubt
helped by the persecutions he met with and the northern
love of fair play. He also had a large nimiber of
adherents in Wales.

As regards Shropshire, which he visited in 1657 and
1667, though he appears to have secured a considerable
following in some ]:>arts, particularly in the Coalbrookdale
district and the Welsh border, his tenets do not seem to
have taken a very firm hold. There is, indeed, more than
one record of Shrewsbury prison being tenanted by

Religious Movements 113

Quakers, but in every instance they seem, by their per-
sistent opposition to authority, to have brought the fate
on themselves. From the beginnii^ there was close union
between the Society in Shropshire and in the neighbouring
part 6f Wales, and in i66g it was agreed by " representa-
tives from ye several Meetings in Shropshire, Montgomeify-
shire, and Merionethshire," to purchase " a Meeting Room
and an enclosure for a burying place " in Shrewsbury. The
site^ chosen was on St John's Hill, and a meeting place
was erected there. This underwent rebuilding, in the
middle of the eighteenth century, and again in 1805, and
is now used for the offices of the Atcham Union. The
last interment in the little burial ground adjoining seems
to have taken place from Coalbrookedale in 1834.

An extract from one of the earlier Registers of this
meeting house will serve to illustrate several points in
connection^ with the Quakers as a whole, and as they
existed in this county. It occurs under the year 1680 : —

Md. James Fanner proposed his purpose of marriage with Elizabeth
Jordan, the zxth of the loth month last, which was consented unto.
And allso th!t 17th of ixth month, x68o, he hath satisfied f rends con-
cerning making OTer pt. of his estate to his children which he had by his
former wife.

This memorandum is followed by the marriage register
itself:—

James Farmer, of ye pish, of Cound, yeoman, and Elizabeth Jordan
of Tuexbury co. Glosester, spinster, dau. of Tho. Jordan, of Stoke
Archard, yeoman, 13th day, X2th mo. called February, in public meeting
house of Tuexl^nry.

In illustration of what has already been said, it will
be noticed that the entry speaks of the society by their
proper title of Friends, Qusdcers having been only a nick-
name ; and it illustrates their peculiar phraseology. Fox
having laid it down that the days of the week and the
month should not be spoken of by the ordinary names,
which he ij^^arded as heathenish. It also shows the social
class whidi largely f ecruited the ranks of the sect, and in
I

114 Memorials of Old Shropshxre

particular mentions the family of Farmer, who were among
the most prominent members in this county. It alludes,
besides, to what became a distinguishing charaiCteristic of
the Quakers, namely, the exercise of philanthropy : before
James Farmer might take on himself new responsibihties,
the Friends required to be assured that he had cared for
his first family. This contained in germ that esfrit JU
corps — ^that care for the needs of their poorer brethren — for
which the Society of Friends has always been remarkable.
The entry also incidentally emphasizes the fact that the
year formerly began in March, not in January : February
is spoken of as the twelfth month instead of the second.^

We now pass to the more important and more wide-
spread movement inaugurated by Wesley. This is not
the place to attempt an estimate of John Wesley's work
as a whole, or to decide his true place in the ecclesiastical
history of the eighteenth century. Opinions will always be
divided as to the relative blame to be attached to him and
to the authorities of the English Church for the fact that
his movement developed into a separate denomination
against his clearly expressed wish, but a calm study of the
matter shows that, as usual, there was fault on both sides.
The dread of what was called enthusiasm was the
bugbear of the eighteenth century in all directions, the
inevitable result being a decay of earnestness; and
Wesley's attempt to awaken the sleepers only shared the
treatment which fell to the lot of aD the leaders of the
Evangelical movement

It must always be a matter of regret that the Church
authorities could not better read the signs of the times —
it was a great opportunity lost of utilizing a zeal which
had in it infinite possibilities for good ; but on the other

1 The position and influence o£ Quaker families in the county in the
first half of the eighteenth century is evidenced by the fact that in 17x8,
and again in 1727, Shrewsbury was chosen as the meeting place for mem-
bers of the body from all parts of England. — Phillips, History of Shrews-
bury, p. 2x2.

Religious Movements 115

hand Wesley, in his later days, was led into adopting a
policy that made his position as a Churchman really un-
tenable. When, in 1784, he took the step of ordaining his
preachers by the laying on of his own hands, he made
a breach which any wish on his part to the contrary could
not prevent from widening into permanent separation. It
was a step which met with the strong disai^roval of
his brother Charles, and called forth from him the well-
known epigram :—

How easy now are bishops made

At man or woman's whim;
Wesley his hand on Coke hath laid.

But who laid hands on him?

It is not necessary, however, to approve every act of
J<dm Wesley in order to value the great work he did for
the revival of earnest personal religion. Probably no one
since the days of St Paul was " in labours more abundant"
If anyone will take the trouble of analysing his Journcd
on almost any page at which he may open it, tracing out
the distances travelled — almost always on horseback — and
the number of sermons preached, he will wonder first at
the i^}rsical strength he displayed ; and when he remem-
bers that Wesle/s sermons were intended to arouse, and
therefore involved an earnest delivery, and that, moreover,
they were delivered to all sorts of audiences under all sorts
of difficult circumstances — sometimes in crowded and ill-
ventilated rooms, and sometimes out of doors to great
crowds, who were often more or less hostile — he will
wonder how mind as well as body bore the strain. And
it must also be recollected that Wesley took his share in
literary work. The energy with which he did this may be
illustrated by a single extract : —

I now applied myself in earnest to the writing of Mr. Fletcher's life,
having procured the best materials I could. To this I dedicated aU the
time I could spare till Norember, from fivtf in the morning till eight at
night. These are my stud3ruig hours; I cannot write longer in a day
without hurting my eyes.

ii6 Memorials of Old Shropshire

At this time he was eighty-three years old^
His Journal records no less than ei|^teen visits to
Shrewsbxuy, the first in 1761, and the last in i/go, ami in
almost every case he preached at some other place in the
county as well Wem and Whitchurch on the one side,
and Broseley and Madeley on the other, received several
visits from him. There is no record on any of these visits
of anything like the insults he met with in some places;
nothing worse than that on one occasion he says : —

I came to Shrewsbury between five and six, and preached to a Urge and
quiet congregation. As we returned the rabble were noisy enough ; but
they used only their tongues ; so all was well.S

The permanent success he met with is attested by the
fact that Shrewsbury was made the head of a circuit as
early as 1765, when there was a roll of 587 members, and
as he speaks of the pleasure with which he stayed at other
places in the county, the whole number of adherents within
its borders must have been considerable.

Two helpers in immediate connection with Shrewsbury
must be mentioned. One was Mrs. Glynne, a lady of
good position who lived on Dogpole, and used her ample
means for the promotion of the cause in which she was
interested. It was she who in 1762 sent him in a post-
chaise to Wem to keep an engagement there, but the
roads were so bad with mud and snow that the horses
broke their traces, and he and his companions had difi&-
culty in making the journey at all ; and the Journal men-
tions many other instances of her kindness. She lived till
1799, and there is a tablet to her memory in St Julian's
Church. The other helper was John Appleton, who had
made a considerable fortune as a currier. In 1761 he fitted
up the old Hall of the Shearmen, near to St Julian's
Church, as a Methodist Chapel at his own expense, and
twenty years later he, also at his own expense, built a new
Chapel in Hill's Lane, which Wesley himself came to open

1 September, 1786. > March, 1769.

Religious Movements 117

on March 27th, i/ftr. Three years later he came again
to preach Appleton's funeral sermoa

The cause of Methodism was also helped by Captain
Jonathan Scott, of Betton, by Sir Richard Hill, of Hawk-
stone, and others, but it owed most of all to Rev. John
Fletcher, Vicar of Madeley. Others came and went,
preaching and then passing on, but Fletcher lived in the
middle of the county as a parochial clergyman for twenty-
five years, and so had a more abiding local influence.
Fletdher not only preached, but year after year lived, as it
were within the sight of all, the higher life to which he
invited them. If Wesley represented St Paul, it was
Fletcher who represented the more loving spirit of
St John ; nay, it is said that when Voltaire was challenged
to produce a character as perfect as Jesus Christ, he at
once mentioned Fletcher, of Madeley.^ Bom in Switzer-
land of a military family, and himself a soldier for a few
years, he came into Shropshire about 1752 as Tutor to
the two sons of Mr. Thomas Hill, of Tern Hall (now
Attingham), at that time M.P. for Shrewsbury. Here he
became attracted by the earnestness of MeUiodism, and
determined to seek Holy Orders. He was accordingly
ordained Deacon and Priest on two consecutive Sundays in
1757, and in 1761 was presented by Mr. Hill to Madeley,
having previously refused an offer from him of another
living, better in value, but with less work.

Madeley was at the time probably one of the roughest
villages in Shropshire, the inhabitants being mostly colliers,
and Fletcher at first by no means found it a bed of roses,
but his efforts and his personal character gradually made
themselves felt, until he was imiversally respected and
loved

Wesley and he became bosom friends. In recording
his first visit to Madeley, in July, 1764, Wesle/s Journal

1 Abbey and Orerton't English Ckurck in tkt Eigktunih Centwyt
^. ii., p. 113.

ii8 Memorials of Old Shropshire

clearly expresses the delight which he felt in the meeting.
He says : —

We went on to Madeley, an exceeding pleaianC Tillage, encompassed
with trees and hills. [Wesley very rarely noticed scenery.] It was a
great comfort to me to converse with a Methodist of the old stamp, deny-
ing himself, taking up his cross, and resolved to be altogether a Christian.

This meeting was the first of many, and there was
probably no place in England to which Wesle/s heart
turned more fondly than to Madeley Vicarage. Fletcher,
however, had no such iron constitution as Wesley, and he
did not know when to pause in his labours. The result
was that he broke down from overwork, and though he
recovered for a time, he sank imder the strain. The
account by his wife of his last Sunday may be given in
her own words, as it shows not only his character and the
earnestness of his work, but also throws light on the services
of the Church as conducted in the last quarter of the
eighteenth century. Having mentioned that he refused
the proffered help of a neighbouring clergyman, and that
having opened the " reading service " with apparent
strength, he soon found it difficult to proceed, but that in
the sermon he seemed to forget his weakness, the accoimt
goes on: —

After sermon, he walked up to the communion table, uttering these
words, " I am going to throw myself under the wings of the cherubim,
before the mercy seat.'* Here the same distressing scene was renewed
with additional solemnity. The people were deeply affected while they
beheld him offering up the last languid remains of a life that had been
larishly spent in their service. In going through this last part of his
duty, he was exhausted again and again ; but his spiritual vigour triumphed
oyer his bodily weakness. After several times sinking on the sacramental
table, he still resumed his sacred work, and cheerfully dutributed with
his dying hand the love memorials of his dying Lord. In the course of
this concluding office, which he performed by means of the most astonish-
ing exertions, he gave out several verses of hymns, and delivered many
affectionate exhortations to his people, calling upon them at intervals to
celebrate the merc^* of God in short songs of adoration and praise. And
now, having struggled through a service of near four hours' continuance,
he was supported, with blessings in his mouth, from the altar to his

Religious Movements 119

chamber, where he Uy for tome time in a twoon, and from whence he
nerer walked into the world a^^.

He died the foUowing Sunday* August 14th, 1785. This
nairative of the last scene in the life of perhaps
the most saintly man which Shropshire has either produced
or possessed in any era of its history, may fitly close this
sketch of the great religious movements that from time
to time have swept across its borders. It is but a sketch,
and the necessary omissions are many, but it may serve
to show not only how the religious character of Salopians
has been built up, but by what various means and agencies
— some of them apparently inconsistent with each other —
the result has been accomplished

Time bringeth changes : systems rise —

Do their appointed work — and fall :

God hath His purpose in them all :
He changeth not : and He it wise.

Thomas Auden.

FOLK-LORE: LEGENDS AND OLD
CUSTOMS

Py Charlotte S. Burne

(Author of Skropskir* FoUk-Lere^ and a Vice-Presidait of the
Folk-Lore Society)

JHEN the folk-lore of Shropshire was first
brought before the world, some twenty-three
years ago, general surprise was expressed
at the amount of old custom and superstition
still prevailing there. Would that be the case now? It
is doubtful. So much has since been recorded of other
counties that Salop has been to a great extent " levelled
up " ; besides which, the lapse of a quarter of a century
has beyond question effaced much old tradition.

The social disintegration consequent on the economic
changes of the nineteenth century has done its work on
folk-lore throughout England. What was living flourish-
ing custom in the beginning of the century had already
become a mere shattered group of survivals at its end,
while now it is scarcely even that With custom has gone
much of that which social customs enshrine and preserve —
the stories, the songs, the riddles, the dramas, the games,
for which the old-fashioned social gatherings gave occa-
sion, and which naturally die out when the demand for
them ceases.

But only two years ago the Secretary of the
Folk-lore Society was desired to take the first throw
at a " cocoa-nut shy " on the Wrekin, on the ground th^
he, being a dark-haired man, would bring luck to the

I20

FOLK-LORE: LEGENOS ANDiOLD CUSTOMS 121

owner, whereas the fair-haired little girl who had been
put forward for the purpose 'would have the contrary
effect The proprietress, spitting on the coin he gave in
payment for the privilege, assured him that she ''had
taken pertikler notice," and that there was " a deal in " the
personality of the first customer as securing good of bad
trade. For though customs decay, superstition still lives.
It may be weakened by the spread of education and the
increased facilities for travel of modem days, but it has
its roots deep down in human nature — in fear, affection,
greed, curiosity, credulity — ^and it can only change as
human nature changes. Until scientific methods of
observation and reasoning prevail in every stratum of
the population, superstition will never die. Post hoc^
propter hoc, will still be argued Tenterden Steeple will
be supposed to cause Goodwin Sands ; bad neighbours will
be edited with bringing evil upon cattle and crops;
superstitious fears will cause recourse to superstitious pre-
cautions ; demand will create supply, and persons will be
found to supply charms and magical formulas suited to all
kinds of misfortunes, from a sick pig to a lost lover. And
so long as medical advice must be paid for, while the village
blacksmith or the old man at the woodland cottage refuses
even to accept thanks for the remedies he gives, so long
will the minor ailments to which flesh is heir be liable to
be treated by the charmer rather than by the qualified
practitioner.

But in all this there is nothing peculiarly Salopian.
Fuller acquaintance with folk-lore shows that the same
kinds of superstitious beliefs and practices are practically
common to all England ; nay, to the British Isles. Even
the words of the charming formulas are practically
identical in widely-separated districts. The common
toothache charm " Peter stood at the gates of Jerusalem,"
etc, recovered at Baschurch (among other places) in 1879,
re-appeared in the Hebrides in 1904, and occurs among
the Anglo-Saxon Leechdoms (Cockayne liL 64) of the

122 Memorials of Old Shropshire

eighth century. How can this be claimed as local folk-
lore anywhere? Again, wherever throughout Europe the
belief in witchcraft prevails (and where does it not?), we
find that the witches form a secret society, renounce the
national religion, hold midnight assemblies, are trans-
formed into animals, steal milk, stop teams, cause sickness^
and can only be defeated by opposing magic to magic ; so
that wherever we find the witch we find the charmer alsa
Once more, wherever belief in a future life is found, belief
in revenants is found with it, and in civilized and Christian
countries still retains certain savage and heathen elements
(such as transformation, malicious disposition, residence in
certain spots, pursuit of wonted occupations), which are in
sharp contrast to the orthodox teadiing on the subject
Any local coloming there may be in local witch or ghost
stories consists only in their minor features, in the frame-
work of the social life reflected in them; such as the laws
of inheritance, the tyrannical squires, the coaches-and-four,
which occur in our English country ghost-stories.

Among tTie wildest of these stories is that of "The
Roaring Bull of Bagbury,*' which is told at Hyssington, on
the borders of Salop and Montgomery. There was once a
very bad man who lived at Bagbury Hall, who oppressed
his labourers and gave them no beer. Only two good
deeds were known of him throughout his life: namely»
that he once gave an old waistcoat to a poor old man, and
some bread and cheese to a poor boy. So after his death
his ghost could not rest, and he came again in the farm
buildings at Bagbury in the form of an enormous bull (a
Hayed bull, some said !). He roared so loudly and was so
riotous that the tiles flew off the roofs and the shutters
from the windows. He even came by daylight, and no
one could live near him in peace. So it was decided to
try and lay him. Twelve parsons were assembled with
lighted candles, an(^ they read and read till they got him
safely into Hyssington Church. But there he made such a
rush that all the candles were blown out except that of

Folk-Lore : Legends and Old Customs 123

an old blind parson named Pigeon» who knew him, and
was prepared for his violence, and sheltered his candle in
his top-boot On this the bull, who had become compara-
tively small and tame, began to grow before their eyes,
and swelled till he cracked the walls of the church. At
last they got the candles re-lighted at Parson Pigeon's, and
r^^ined power over the bull, which g^dually diminished
as they read till he became so small and weak that he was
imprisoned in a snufif-box. Then he parleyed, and peti-
tioned that he might be laid under Bagbury Bridge, and
might be allowed to cause every woman who passed over
to lose her babe and every mare her foaL But this could
not be conceded, and he was condemned to be laid in the
Red Sea for a thousand years. Nevertheless, some think
that he lies in an old shoe under the door-stone of
Hyssington Church, and others dread passing over
Bagbury Bridge, and tell of apparitions still to be seen in
Bagbury Hall.

Cross the county from west to south-east, from the
Welsh hills to Severn-side. In Kinlet Chiuxdi these is a
monument to Sir George Blount and his wife, kneeling,
with their children beside them. Sir George, who died in
1584, was the last squire of his name. His only daughter
married her father's page, so angering him thereby
that he haimted them and their descendants for long after
his death. He used to come riding out of a pool, still
caUed Blount's Pool, terrifying the women who went to
rinse their clothes there. He would drive his coach and
four white horses over the dinner-table where his family
were sitting, and so annoyed them that at last they pulled
down the old Hall to get rid of him and rebuilt it on a new
site, further from the church. The cellars are there still,
full of barrels of ale and bottles of wine, but no one dare
touch them for fear of angering the ghost, although he was
laid in the sea long ago, by parsons reading with lighted
candles till all were burnt out but one. And in a recess
of his tomb there is (or was as lately as 1886) a small

124 Memorials of Old Shropshire

stoppered bottle which the village children regard with
terror, for if anyone were to let it drop Old Blount would
come again.

A pathetic story is that told of " Madam PigotL" She
was the wife of the last of the Pigotts of Chetwynd, in
the north-east of Shropshire^ on the confines of Stafford-
shire; and she died in child-birth. Her husband longed
for an heir, and when the doctors came to him and told
him that mother and babe could not both survive, he
bade them " lop the root to save the branch." Thus
doomed to death before her time, her spirit could find
no rest Her husband went abroad ; the house was shut
up and left to caretakers ; and she was seen in the gar-
dens of the empty hall, a pale white figure wandering to
and fro. " Never mind, child," said the housekeeper to her
little niece, who in old age told the story, " it's only Madam
Pigott. Put your apron over your head when she goes
by, and she will do you no harm." Others in later days
said that she flew at midnight out of a trap-door in the
roof of (old) Chetwynd Rectory ; she turned over a boulder
in the lane between Chetwynd and Edgmond in the course
of her nightly rambles ; she was frequently seen on moon-
light nights sitting on the wall of Chetwynd Park where it
abuts on Cheney Hill, combing her baby's hair ; so that
the lane became known as " Madam Pigott's Hill," and a
twisted tree-root on which she sometimes seated herself
as "Madam Pigott's armchair." But not content with
wandering and appearing, she would spring up en croufe
behind belated riders, especially those who were going to
"fetch the doctor" to assist at a birth, and ride behind
them till they reached a running water; then she could
go no further. So she had to be laid, with the usual
ceremony of twelve parsons praying and reading Psalms
till all the candles went out but one, which belonged to
Mr. Foy, curate of Edgmond,^ who succeeded in laying her.

1 He died as long ago as 1816, bat ghosts always continue to be a terror
long after they have been " laid."

FOLK-LORE: LEGENDS AND OLD CUSTOB^ 12$

The local gipsies say that she was first secured in a bottle,
which was thrown into Chetwynd Pool, but the bottle was
broken, and the ceremony had to be repeated ; when, in
spite of her entreaties, she was laid in the Red Sea, and
the neighbourhood had peace. But there is an oak-tree at
the foot of Chetwynd Scaur which still shakes and quivers
when all the other trees are still, because Madam Pigott
shakes it in her nighdy wanderings.

None of these stories, or of hundreds like them which
might be told, have any integral connection with the place
where they are current The really local folk-lore of any
district is that which is bound up with its local charac-
teristics : its physical features, its past and present history,
its economic possibilities, the racial descent of its inhabi-
tants. These all combine to determine the character of
its legends and the peculiarities of its customs. ^:i The
marked and striking features of Shropshire scenery lend
themselves especially to the growth of myths of origin^
not unparalleled elsewhere, but attracted to the spot by
local conditions.

The Wrekin, the central point of the county, the motif
of the county toast, " To all Friends round the Wrekin "
(the rallying cry, as it might almost be called, of North
and South), has been imagined to be the work of a baffled
giant He had a grievance against the people of Shrews-
bury, and determined to revenge himself by damming up
the Severn and drowning them out So he set out from
his Welsh home, carrying a spadeful of earth for the
purpose; but the day grew hot, and he grew tired, and
when he met a cobbler carrying a sack of old boots and
shoes on his back, he asked how much farther he had
to go. The cobbler, before answering the question,
cautiously asked what he wanted at Shrewsbury, and on
hearing his errand, replied, " Shrewsbury! you'll never get
to Shrewsbury, neither to-day nor to-morrow. Why,
lode at me! Fve just come from Shrewsbury, and I've
worn out all these boots and shoes on the road." The

126 Memorials of Old Shropshire

weaiy giant in despair threw down his load, scraped hb
boots on his spade» and returned home, leaving the two
heaps— the Wrekin and the little Ercall Hill beside it—
as memorials of his baffled plans.

Another weary giant, no other than the Devil himself,
tramped across the Stiperstones with his apron full of
stones, and sat down to rest on the topmost crag ; but as
he rose again to go his way^ his apron-string brolne; and
scattered the stones over the hillside all round the Devil's
Chair.

There is another Giant's Chair on the Titterstooe
Qee ; a Giant's Shaft (f.^., arrow) on the Brown Clee ; a
Giant's Grave on Llanymynech Hill ; while at View Edge
and Norton Camp, two hiUs crowned with earthworks on
cither side of the river Onny, there hved two giants who
kept their money in a chest in the vaults of Stokesay
Castle, in the intervening valley. But they had only one
key, which they threw backwards and forwards as they
wanted it, till one day one of them threw it into the castle
moat, whence it has never been recovered But the
treasure-chest stands in the vaults still, guarded by a raven
perched on the top, who drives away all comers.

On Stapeley Hill, an outlier of Comdon, in the far west
of the county, stands a prehistoric stone circle known as
Mitchell's Fold A " fold," in the speech of the country,
means a farmyard ; Mitchell, from A S. mycel, M. E.
micAel^mickle or big: hence Mitchell's Fold = big yard
or big man's yard Here "tie" giant used to milk his
cow, according to the legend current so far back as the
middle of the eighteenth century. She was a beautiful
large white animal, and gave milk sufficient for all comers
so long as each person only brought one vessel to be
filled At last there came a malicious old witch, who
milked the poor cow into a riddle {Anglice, sieve), and
exhausted the apparently unending supply. The cow,
enraged by this treatment, fled madly into Warwickshire,
where she became the celebrated Dun Cow of Warwick,

FOLK-LORE: LEGENDS AND OLD CUSTOMS 12;

and the poor people who had been used to depend on her
milk were left to starve. " But the old witch was turned
to stone, and the other stones were put up round her to
keep her in, and they called it Mitchell's Fold, because
her name was Mitchell" So the story ends nowadays,
with a bit of folk-etymology. The giant has dropped out
of it, but the earlier form of the story is evidently nearer
the original

An outstanding rock on the scarp of Wenlock Edge
is the traditional home of a ghostly highwayman or robber
chief, who was buried in his own cave by a fall of the cliff,
tc^ther with his outlaw band and their hoard of treasure.
The mark of his golden chain may be seen on the rock.
If anyone stands on the top of the cliff and cries

Ippikin I Ippikin !
Keep away with your long chin !

Ippikin (or Hipperkin) will appear, still wearing his
golden chain, and sweep the insulting speaker over the,
precipice, to be dashed to pieces by the fall.

The cave in Nesscliff HUl had a less mythical inhabi-
tant, namely, Wild Humphrey Kynaston, a younger son of
the Kynastons of Myddle Castle, who was outlawed appar-
ently for murder, possibly for debt also, in 1491, and took
refuge in this cave in the Marches beyond the reach of
English law. Once when he had crossed the Severn the
Sheriff's officers followed him, and removed some of the
planks from Montford Bridge to cut off his escape;
but he put his faithful horse to the leap and landed safely
on the further side, where the King's writ did not run.
The wonderful leap was long kept in memory by marks
dug in the turf on Knockin Heath, and popular tradition
now tells of "Kynaston's Leap" over the Severn, from
Nesscliff Hill to Ellesmere, or even to the top of the
Breidden Hill The horse's hoof-mark is shown on the
top of Nesscliff Hill, and the rider is said to have sold
himself to the Devil. But Wild Humphrey remains in

128 Memorials of Old Shropshire

popular meiqpry chiefly as the ideal .outlaw who robbed the
rich to give to the poor, who took c^ the leader from a
team of three horses and hooked it on in front of a cart
drawn by a single one ; who asked for drink at a nei|^-
bouring hall, tossed off the ale at a draught, iind'iode
away with the silver cup in his pocket ; whose 'every w^
was supplied by the rich who feared him and the poor
who loved him. His horse shares his fame. It p;iased
untethered freely on the open hillside, it came at his
whistle, it was stabled with him in the cave at night, 'it
was shod backwards that no one might track it ; it was^
in fine, a supernatural creature, even perhaps the Devil
himself in the shape of a horse ! It is rather characteristic
*f the ancient Marchland that our popular heroes shouM,.
for the most part, have been outlaws.

Robin Hood, the national outlaw-hero, had no connec-
tion with the county ; nevertheless, a great arrow on the
roof of what was once the Fletchers' Chantry in Ludlow
Church is supposed to have been shot by him from .*' Robin
Hood's Butts," a tumulus in the Old Field The same
name is given to some tumuli on the Longmynd, and some
stones near West Felton were known as Robin Hood's
Chair, though the memory of Fulk fitzWarin of Whit-
tington, the thirteenth century outlaw, has died OHt of
popular tradition.

Miners in long-worked mines often think they hear the
knockers or the old men at work underground. The
lead-miners of the Stiperstones identify these Olrf Men
with the local Saxon champion, Wild Edric, and his fol-
lowers, the last defenders of English freedom against the
Norman invader, who live for ever in the depths of the
hills. When war is about to break out, they appear, and
may be seen riding over the hills. A strangely detailed
account of such a vision before the Crimean War has been
recorded, but, unfortunately, not at first-hand,, and not till
long afterwards. Except the famous case of the skeleton
with golden armour found in a barrow at Mold, this is

FOLK-LORE : LEGENDS AND OLD CUSTOMS 1 29

perliaps the oldest piece of oral historical tradition ytt
met with in England

The lakes or ** meres " of the North Shropshire plain
have their myths of orig^ and their supernatural inhabi-
tants as vrell as the hills. Generally they are said to be
bottomless; under many of them church bells may be
heard ringing. Sometimes these are said to have been
thrown there by wicked hands, and the story is told at
Colemere and the Berth Pool, Baschurch, that attempts

Ellbsmbbjl

were made to recover them, but that when the oxen
brought for the purpose had nearly succeeded in dragging
them out, some bystander uttered an oath, on which the
ropes broke and the bells fell back into the water. In
other places (Bomere Pool and Llynclys) the bells are the
relics of a city swallowed by a flood, by which the mere
was formed Ellesmere, the largest and perhaps the most
beautiful of the meres, was caused by the avarice of an old
woman,^ who locked up her well to prevent her neighbours

1 OtherwiM, of a churlifh fanntr.

I30 Memorials of Old Shropshire

taking the water. It bubbled up and overflowed till it
drowned her cottage and land and formed the mere. EDes-
mere still has a ghostly inhabitant, the White Lady of
Oteley, who haimted a room in old Otdey House, on the
very margin of the water, so incessantly, that when the
house was pulled down (about 1830) and re-erected on a
fresh site, a portion of it was left standing as a home for
the ghost, which otherwise might have ** flitted " witii the
stonesw A paved causeway, traceable far under the mere,
is still known as the Lad/s Walk. The Black Pool, a
^ bottomless " pond close to the road between Longnor and
Leebotwood, is the abode of another White Lady, who
sometimes issued from it at night and wandered about the
roads, and even on one occasion joined in the dancing
in a neighbouring public-house garden. Her sudden dis-
appearance betrayed her nature, and the party broke up
terrified, nor did they venture to dance there ag^ain. Yet
another White Lady haunts the Dark Walk beside the
pool in the grounds at KilsalL

In some places the fair dweller in the waters is known
as a mermaid (= mere-maid ?). The Mermaid of Newport
Hves in Aqualate Mere, two miles higher up the Wild-
moors than the site of the town. If she really deserves
her name she must once have inhabited the Vivary pool
below the mere, from which the burgesses of Newport
were bound to supply fish for the king's table, but which
seems gradually to have dried up during the eighteenth
century. (Its place is now occupied by the Shropshire
Union Canal.) When Aqualate Mere was being dredged
and cleansed, the mermaid put her head out and gjave this
warning:

If this mere you do let dry :
Newport and Meretown I will destr'y.

Another mermaid lives, or lived, in a pond at Child's
Ercall. She appeared once to two men on their way to
their work, and offered them treasures if they would come
to her in the water to receive them. But just as she was

FOLK-LORE: LEGENDS AND OLD CUSTOMS 131

about to put a lump of gold into their hands one of them
littered an oath, and the mermayl vanished with a shriek.^

Pools of stagnant water are sometimes said to be the
mbode of "Jenny Greenteeth/' who will drag in unwary
children who venture too near the edge.

Bomere Pool is the residence of a monster fish, girt
with a sword, which, one story says, was buckled round
him by the Squire of Condover when he was once cap-
tured by a fishing party, from whose boat he easily
escaped. Another and more romantic version declares
that this is no other than Wild Edric's sword (thrown like
Excalibar into the pool?) committed to the fish's keeping
when he vanished, and never to be restored till the *' right
heir " to Condover Hall (or to Edric's estates) shall come
to claim his own.

" Sivem," the great river which cleaves the county in
halves, is always mentioned without the prefix ''the," as
if it were a person. If anyone should drown his enemy
in the river, he must never again attempt to cross it, for
the river will avenge the murder, stretching out long arms
and dragging him under. And the river water is so
instinct with life that S any be taken into a house it will
keep up a perpetual drumming against the sides of the
vessel containing it until it be restored to its home. If
Milton (Comus) may be believed, it was formerly thought
to be a remedy for witchcraft in cattle, and Dyer's Fleece
echoes and elaborates his description of the " shepherds "
throwing offerings of flowers into the stream at sheep-
shearings and festivals.

A country of hills and rivers is naturally also a country
of wells and springs. Saints' wells are found everywhere,
most of them healing wells; though healing properties
are not confined to wells of saintly dedicatioa Wishing
wells occur occasionally in the west of the county. At

1 Compare the oath which prerents the rescue of the church bells
from the water, and the Shropshire proverb, '* Don't swear, or you'll
catch no fish." Swearing alto prevents bees from swarming.

132 Memorials of Old Shropshire

that in Sunny Gutter, near Ludlow (the traditional scene
of the adventure in Comus), you must drop a stone into
the water when you wish; at the famous well of St
Oswald, Oswestry, stone rites are also practised You
may either take a little water up in your hand, drink part,
and throw the rest on a stone in the masonry carved with
the head of St Oswald; or throw a stone on a certain
spot at the bottom of the well, and put your head under
the jet of water thrown up ; or breathe your wish into a
hole in the keystone of the arch over the weU ; or simply
bathe your face with the water. At Rhosgoch-by-
Worthen (not strictly in Shropshire) pins must be offered ;
so also at the wells at Rorrington and Churchstoke, where
wishing is not mentioned, pins were thrown into the weDs
at the Well- Wakes on Ascension Day.^

Wakes are a noteworthy feature of Shropshire folk-
lore. A wake is an annual local merrymaking or festival,
known in some counties as a " feast," and usually observed
on the day of the saint to whom the parish church is
dedicated Absent members of families came home for
the wake, special local cakes or other viands were generally
provided, sports, usually trials of strength or skill, were
got up among the young men, different places having each
its own speciality in this way ; dancing, " kiss-in-the-
ring," and other games went on, mummers or morris-
dancers came round Such was the wake of old times.
Shows, "merry-go-rounds," and dancing in the pubhc-
houses form the staple of the amusements nowadays.

But besides the parochial wakes, we find in Shropshire
similar wakes observed at well sides in early summer, or
on hill tops, generally beside a spring. No such wakes
were held on the banks of the meres : it is evident that
for some reason living water was a necessity of the
festival In three cases which have been recorded —

1 Mr. G. L. Gomme, in his Ethnology and Folk-Lore^ pp. 8i, 82, takes
some of these places to be in the east of the county, which, as he bases
some of his conclusions on their position, is unfortunate.

FOLK-LORE: LEGENDS AND OLD CUSTOMS 1 33

Rorrington, Old Churchstoke, and Betchcot on the Long-
mynd — ^thc well was "dressed" with boughs and flowers
as in the well-known case of Tissington, in Derbyshire.
At the " Halliwell Wakes," held on Ascension Day at the
Halliwell or Holy Well on the hillside at Rorrington Green
(a hamlet in the parish of Chirbury), a bower of rushes,
boughs, and flowers was erected over the well, and a may-
pole set up. The people " walked " (i.^., went in procession)
round the hill, led by music, dancing as they went The
well was visited, the water tasted, and pins thrown into
it to bring good-luck and preserve the donors from witch-
craft A barrel of ale, brewed the previous autumn on
the green (presumably from the Holy WeU water), was
taken to the well side and tapped Cakes were also sold,
round, flat spiced buns, marked with a cross, which were
supposed to bring good luck if kept The rest of the
day was spent in feasting and dancing at the well side.
Elsewhere in West Shropshire we hear of the people
sitting round the well eating cakes and drinking sugar-
and-water from cups passed round the circle. We seem
almost to be carried back to the eighth century, when
Archbishop Egbert ordained that "if any man keep his
wake at a well, let him fast three years ! "

In some cases, as we have seen, the well has received
a saintly dedication ; sometimes there is a tradition of an
ancient chapel having stood beside it, or else the day
chosen is a Church festival, such as Palm Sunday or
Ascension Day ; but even this thin veneer of Christianity
is often wanting in the Hill Wakes which were held on
several of the principal heights.

It was customary to ascend Pontesford Hill on Palm
Sunday, professedly to search for a mysterious golden
arrow, dropped by a king, or a fairy, or in a battle (as it
was variously reported) on the hill years ago, and only to
be recovered by the destined heir to the estate, or by
the maiden seventh daughter of a seventh son searching
for it at midnight; but on its discovery some great

134 Memorials of Old Shropshire

estate would be restored to the true heir, or
some unknown spell be removed The custom,
however, was called "going palming/' and the
practice was to try to be the first to gather a spray from a
solitary yew-tree on the summit, known as the haunted
yew-tree, which "palm" would prove a talisman against
every kind of misf ortime during the next twelve months ;
and after that to run headlong down the steep slope of
the hill and dip the fourth finger of the right Qclt ?) hand
in the waters of Lyde Hole, a reputed " bottomless " pool
of the brook in the valley, after which the next person of
the opposite sex to be met would be the destined husband
or wife of the diviner.

Wrekin Wakes, held on the first Sunday in May, were
distinguished by an ever-recurring contest between the
colliers and the agricultural population for the possession
of the hill This is said to have gone on all day, reinforce-
ments being called up when either side was worsted
The rites still practised by visitors to the Wrekin doubt-
less formed part of the ceremonial of the ancient wake.
On the bare rock at the summit is a natural hollow, known
as the Raven's Bowl or the Cuckoo's Cup, which is always
full of water, supposed to be placed there as it were
miraculously, for the use of the birds. Every visitor
should taste this water, and, if a young girl ascending the
hill for the first time, should then scramble down the steep
face of the cliff and squeeze through a natural cleft in the
rock called the Needle's Eye, and believed to have been
formed when the rocks were rent at the Crucifixion.
Should she look back during the task, she will never be
married Her lover should await her at the further side
of the gap, where he may claim a kiss, or, in default of
one, the forfeit of some article of clothing — ^a coloured
article, such as a glove, a kerchief, or a ribbon, carefully
explained the lady on whose authority the last detail is
given.

Of Caradoc Wakes, held on Trinity Sunday (i.^., at

FOLK-LORE: LEGENDS AND OLD CUSTOMS 1 35

the end of the Whitsuntide holidays?) no very special
features have been recorded The chief event was a
wrestling match for a pair of leathern hedging gloves.
The cave known to all as " Caractus's Hole " was visited ;
and pursuing cakes rolled down the steep brow of the
hill was another amusement A barrel of beer was carted
up the hill, old women offered gingerbread for sale, and
the unfailing spring within the area of the ancient camp
supplied water for making tea, which in the early nine-
teenth century was, it must be remembered, a luxury.

The Titterstone Wake, unlike the others, was not held
tiD the last Sunday in August — ^the end of harvest^ It
was customary there for the young men and young women
to ascend the hill in separate parties, going by different
routes and meeting at a recognised trysting-place, whence
they proceeded to a spot known as Tea-kettle Alley,
shdtered by tall blocks of basalt, where the elder women
made tea with the water of the adjoining spring. Then
the boys climbed the Giant's Chair, and sat repeating a
ditty which, alas! cannot be recovered, but which probably
conveyed a challenge or defiance. Fights and similar
contests were, as has been said, favourite features of the
old-fashioned wakes, and we often meet with some cere-
mony of challenging all comers for the championship.
Moreover, there was reported to have been a battle of
giants (battle = single combat) on the Titterstone.

The sort of water-cult which pervades all these festi-
Tals will not escape any reader. It appears again, and in
connection with a contest, in the curious custom of Rope-
pulling, observed at Ludlow every Shrovetide up to 185a
A large rope of prescribed length and thickness, with a
red knob at one end and a blue one at the other, was
bought by the Corporation and given by the Mayor from a
window in the Town Hall to the townspeople in the
street The inhabitants of Broad Street Ward seized the

1 Cf. Profetior Rhyt, CtlHe F^ik-lsn,

136 Memorials of Old Shropshire

red knob» those of Corve Street the bltte, and a
fierce tug-of-wax through the streets ensued, which was
concluded when either the Broad Street men could dip
their knob into the River Teme or the Corve Street men
drag their opponents into the Bull Ring. This was
repeated twice or three times, and the winners of two
pullings became owners of the rope, which was then
sold, and the proceeds spent in beer for their refresh-
ment This must originally have been a rain-charm^ as
in Burmah, or a weather-divination— drought versus
floods — ifor the coming season.

The popular annual festival of Much Wenlock was
carried on independently of the local authorities. The
municipality there has succeeded to the ancient jurisdic-
tion of the Priory over the whole of Wenlock Liberty —
some seventeen parishes in the heart of the county. On
Ascension Day the young men and boys of the town used
to choose a mock Bailiff, who was solemnly arrayed in a
hair-cloth gown, a Recorder, Town Clerk, Crier, etc, and
to ride about the Liberty calling at the various gentle-
men's houses for refreshment. At the end of the day they
assembled outside the Guildhall, by the pillory, and their
Town Clerk read their " Charter," as they called it, a
rhyming doggrel of which only two lines have been pre-
served :

We go from Beckbury and Badger to Stoke on tke Clee,
To Monk Hopton, Round Acton, and so return we.

The custom hardly survived into the nineteenth
century. It probably originated whenever the lawful
authbrities ceased to "beat the bounds" of the Liberty
themselves.

" Shrewsbury Show," the great annual gala of Shrews-
bury, which lasted, with some vicissitudes, down to 1878,
was the direct descendant of the Corpus Christi Guild-
procession of the Middle Ages.^ It was, of course, under

1 Corpus Christi, the Thursday after Trinity Sunday.

FOLK-LORE: LEGENDS AND OLD CUSTOMS 1 37

the management of the trading companies, each of whom
provided a "pageant" for the procession. This might
be either a scene in action^ paraded on a portable plat-
form or a waggon, or one or more characters in costume
riding singly on horseback. Each trade had also a banner,
and frequently a band Behind these the master trades-
men of the craft walked in procession, followed by their
apprentices, who sometimes provided separate pageants of
their own. There is no record or tradition of the per-
formance of any mystery-plays, as at York, Coventry, and
Chester. If plays there were, they probably consisted not
of a connected mystery, but of single miracle-plays on the
legends of the patron saints of the companies. Even to
the last days of the show, the shoemakers' pageant repre-
sented St Crispin and St Crispian. The shearmen or
cloth-dressers exhibited St Blaize ; the barbers evidently
once displayed St. Katharine, though from the time of
Catherine of Braganza she became Queen Catherine, and
her wheel a spinning-wheel ; while the stag and huntsmen
contributed by the glovers looks like a reminiscence of the
legend of St Giles, in whose parish in the Foregate they
chiefly dwelt.

The pageants of the other companies are of more
obscure origin, and moreover varied from time to time;
often quaintly enough, as when the " Black Prince " was
represented as a negro! Possibly, however, the blacka-
moor may be the oldest part of die affair, and the name
"Black Prince" may have been attached to him later.^
So also Venus, Ceres, and Mother Eve may be remnants
of a primitive " Lady Godiva " element in the show, with
all its shadowy background of magic^

1 Cf, Haitland, Science of Fairy Tales^ p. 85. A negro '' Black
Prisce'' is a constant character in the Mummers' Flay.

SThe Barbers, who carried '* Queen" Catherine, were the oldest of
the companies, having been incorporated in 1306. The Bakers were
associated with them, and when separated again, either kept St.
Catherine or presented Venus or Ceres; while the Barbers, temporarily
deprired of their patroness, adopted Queen Elisabeth in her place,
always keeping up the tradition of a female figure. The Tailors, who

138 Memorials of Old Shropshire

Id the palmy days of the show the procession was
headed by the Mayor and Corporation, after whcmi came
the trades in due order, accompanied by musicians playing
the lively country-dance tune known as Shrewsbury
Quarry. They went through the town and (since 1595)
out to Kingsland, which, till the time of the present
generation, was an open space beyond the river.^ Here
each trade had its own "Arbour," a permanent structure
containing dining-hall, buttery, and other offices^ duly
furnished with long tables and benches, with a chair at
the upper end for the Warden of the Company. There
they dined, entertaining the Corporation as their guests^
and spent the afternoon in amusement The handsome
gateway of one of these arbours still remains, re-erected
in the Quarry, and running the "Shoemakers' Race"
formed one of the customary sports. It no longer exists,
but it was a sort of labyrinth cut in the turf, measiuing
exactly a mile ; and in the midst was a rude representation
of a giant's face, on to which the runner had to jump,
alighting with his feet upon the eyes.

Whether plays were given at the Show or not, they
were favourite diversions at other festivals. The open-air
theatre may yet be traced in the Quarry, where miracle-
plays were acted by the Abbot of Shrewsbury's men, and
where, when the abbey was swept away, were performed
dramas, composed and superintended by the Master of the

were incorporated so early at 1460, and who disputed with the Shoemakers
the right to lead the way, carried a "gyrle" as their pageant in the
earliest show of which we have details. Latef they depicted Adam and
Eve on their banner, and as a pageant exhibited Cupid. Female nudity
forms an important element in the ceremonial of rain-charms in the East
and elsewhere. Cf, Hartland, ScUnce of Fairy Tales ^ p. 71.

1 Till about 1594 the trades seem to have met in the Quarry, but in
that year an order was made by the Corporation forbidding plays, games,
etc., '' within the Town and LiDerties." Kingsland was an open common
where the burgesses had rights of pasture, as they had in the Quanj, bat
it was in the parish of Meole and diocese of Hereford. Probably the
division between the Sees of Lichfield and Hereford perpetuated the
memory of a much older time of division, either of Saxon Kingdoms or
still earlier tribes, and so Kingsland was beyond tha jurisdiction of the
town authorities.

FOLK-LORE: LEGENDS AND OLD CUSTOMS 1 39

School Drama under Elizabethan conditions survived
in one remote comer of the county almost within the
memory of man. On the western border, plays dating
from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were acted
in the thirties and forties of the nineteenth by companies
of village men. They were performed at the wakes
on an open-air stage formed of waggons boarded
over. The chairman, book in hand, sat on the stage in
full view of the audience, acting as prompter and call-boy
in one ; boys took the women's parts, and the fool " played
all manner of meagrims," and was "going on with his
manoeuvres all the time."^ "Stage-phys" they were
called, in contradistinction to the performance of the
Guisers (more generally known as Mummers), who peram-
bulate the country at festival seasons (in Shropshire at
Christmas), and entering the farm kitchens without cere-
mony, there act their play on the floor of the room in the
midst of the spectators The play is, on the surface, the
story of St George, the champion of England, who over-
throws all comers who dare to cross swords with him;
but the real motif is the far older one of the death of a
hero in single combat and his revival at the hands of a
wonder-working-magidan.' It must not be confounded
with the morris-dance, in which there is no play, no fight,
and no '' disguising," or dressing in character. It consists
of a sort of country-dance, with various and often
elaborate figures, danced by pairs of men brandish-
ing short staves, and dressed in uniform costume with
ribbons and (properly speaking) bells. Like all such old
shows, it was accompanied by a Fool, and often by a man
in woman's clothes, but these were not among the dancers.
In the Middle Ages, and even much later, most municipal
towns appear to have kept a troop of morris-dancers,

1 Sir Offler Wakeman in Skropskin Arehmohgical Transactions,
▼ol. Vii., p. 383.

s MucA learning hat been expended on this mjthological theme, but
no foil examination of the popular drama itself, its probable source, and
the area in which it is known, has jtX appeared.

I40 Memorials of Old Shropshire

who turned out to accompany any civic procession or gala,
but in modem times the great stronghold of morris-
dancing seems to be the Cotswold Hills. In Shropshire
it seems chiefly to be practised in the south, the south-
east, and the colliery districts, while we hear more of the
Guisers in the north-east

There is, in fact, considerable diversity of custom
in the county. South and West of the Severn, Motherii^
Sunday (the fourth Sunday in Lent) is frequently
observed by visits paid to the mothers by their
children living away from home. It is called also
"Simnel Sunday," from the cakes presented by the
dutiful visitors. Shrewsbury still has a speciality
for its Simnel Cakes — ^rich plum cakes, round and
flat, with a peculiar scalloped edging, which are
enclosed in a hard crust coloured with saffron, and are
boiled before being baked The name comes from
siminella, fine flour; but folk-etymology derives it from
an imaginary old couple named Sim and Nell, who dis-
puted whether to boil or bake the remains of their Christ-
mas pudding, and finally agreed to do both. But in the
north-eastern portion of the county Mothering Sunday is
never heard of. On the other hand, All Souls' Eve
(Hallow E'en) is commonly observed there. Parties of
children (formerly of adults also) go from door to door
singing, or rather droning, a rhyming ditty,^ and begging
for apples, beer, or the " soul-cakes " which in days still
remembered, good housewives used to bake in readiness
for them. The object of the practice obviously was to
provide the poor with materials for keeping the festival
with cakes and wassail, while they no doubt (in mediaeval
times) would remember their benefactors and their bene-
factors* deceased friends at the Mass for AH Souls the
next morning. The curious thing is that, save at Pulver-

1 Shakespeare had heard them. " He speaks puling, like a beggar at
Hallowmas." — Two GentUmen of Verona, Act ii., sc. i.

FOLK-LORE : LEGENDS AND OLD CUSTOMS I4I

batch, there is 00 record of this custom south of the
Severa

There seems, in fact, to be a boimdary-line of custom
nmning transversely across the county from south*east
to north-west, following to some extent the course of the
Severa South and west of this line the yearly hiring of
servants takes place in May; north and east of it, at
Christmas; which really amounts to a difference in the
calendar in use among the agricultural population in the
two districts. The line, moreover, coincides somewhat
closely with a philological boundary, viz., that between
the Northern and Western types of dialect, which is trace-
able through the county; and, more roughly, with the
oldest political boundary of the region, namely, that which
divides the diocese of Lichfield from those of St Asaph
and Hereford (The latter, founded A.D. 676, served the
ancient sub-kingdom of the Hecanas or Magesaetas.)
This looks as if it might really have a racial origin. But
as all the historic races — Celt, Teuton, and Norseman —
whidi have contributed to people our island, divided
the year into winter and summer — November-May, May-
November, — and began it at the beginning of a season,
and not at the winter solstice or any of the quarter-days
dependent on it, like the Roman and Ecclesiastical
calendars,^ the difference is perhaps on the whole more
likely to be due to local political causes.

Shropshire people are always ready for "a bit of a
do ; " not a swindle, be it understood, but a merrymaking.
Not contented with the authorised calendrical feasts they
seize on every opportunity to show their kindly feeling by
popular festivities. The marriage of an important land-
owner, or the birth or majority of an heir to his estates,
for example, is always an occasion for sympathetic re-
joicing. Subscriptions are raised to feast the poor and
to provide amusements for a gala. An ox, or more than

1 Tille, Yule and Christmas, tkdr place in the Germanic Year ; Rhys
Celtic Folk'hre^ Welsh and Manx, i. 315.

142 Memorials of Old Shropshire

one» is purchased and killed for distribution among
the cotfs^ers. On the appointed day the village is
decorated with flags and arches; a grand procession is
formed of the subscribers, tenantry, sdiools, and so forth,
with bands, flags, and decorated waggons conveying the
oxen, to visit and congratulate the gentleman in whose
honour the affair is arranged. The feasting probably
takes place in his park, and the rest of the day is spent
in g^ames and amusements. Whether the local folk-lore
of Shropshire bears witness to the ethnic descent of the
people or not, it will be seen that it certainly reflects
their cheerful, sociable, friendly character. These were
the qualities whidi in the sixteenth century already dis-
tinguished them among other counties.

And Shropshire laith in her, That shins be ever sharp.

Lay wood upon the fire, reach hither me my harp.

And whilst the black bowl walks, we merrily will carp.

Drayton PolyolHcn, aj.

C. S. BURNE.

LUDLOW AND THE COUNCIL OF
THE MARCHES

By Caroline A. J. Skeel, D.Litt., F.R.Hist.S.

Author of TAs CmtuU in tki Mtuxhes tf WaUs

Thos farre I goe to prove this Wales in dede
Or eb at least, the maxtchers of the same.
But farther speake of shiere it is no neede,
Save Lndloe now, a towne of noble fame :
A goodlj seate, where oft the councell Ijes,
Where monuments are found in aundent gujse:
Where kings and queenes in pompe did long abyde.
And where God pleasde that good Prince Arthur djde.

Churchyard,— Wortkines of Wala.

^EW of the smaller towns of England are so full
of memories as Ludlow, "town of noble fame,"
and in few places can the connexion between
the present and the past be more fully realized
The castle still crowns the hiU that overlooks the meeting
of the Teme and Corve; the tower of St Lawrence's
Churdi b a landmark as it was four centuries ago, but
there is no clash of arms in the narrow streets, no eager
throng watching from afar the coming of prince or
president, little save memories to remind us of the days
when Ludlow was the capital of the Marches and the seat
of a vice-r^;al cotirt Yet such memories grow strangely
vivid as we walk along the streets once trodden by
Prince Edward and Princess Mary, or enter the castle
which was the home of Lacys and Mortimers, Sydneys
and Herberts, or look at the windows from which ''the
verse of Comus was first shaken into the air of England."

143

144 Memorials of Old Shropshire

The greatest days of Ludlow were from the fifteenth
century down to the revolution of 1688, when it was the
most usual meeting-place of the Coimcil in the Mardies
of Wales. But long before the establishment of the
Council Ludlow had been the chief seat of the Mortimer
power: there Richard Duke of York had mustered the
army which melted away in the rout of Ludford Bridge,
and during the reigns of the Yorkist Kings the town
enjoyed special favour. In the reign of Edward IV. the
Council in the Marches arose out of the Prince's Council,
which had existed ever since the time of the first English
Prince of Wales for the purpose of administering his
estates. Edward, as heir of the Mortimers and the chief
Marcher Lord, well knew the need of strong government
in the Welsh Border, which had been for centmes one
of the most disorderly parts of the kingdom. Hence, in
the year 1473, in ail probability, a Coimcil was ai>pointed
with large administrative powers under the presidency
of John Alcock, Bishop of Ely. Prince Edward, who was
but three years old, had already been sent down to the
Border with his mother, and it would seem that Ludlow
was his home till his accession in 1483. During these
ten years the Council made a beginning in the work of
reducing the Marches to order, but on the departure of
Edward V. from Ludlow it seems to have fallen into
abeyance, and no record occurs of it till the reign of
Henry VII., who, as a Welshman, and owing his crown
largely to Welsh help, was naturally anxious to improve
the condition of Wales and the Marches.

Under Henry VII. the Council of the Marches was
definitely established. Probably about 1493 a Council
was appointed for Prince Arthur, who spent much of his
brief life at Ludlow, whence he often visited Shrewsbury
to receive entertainment from the burgesses. A letter
from the Council to the bailiffs of Shrewsbury probably
belongs to this period ; it is headed, " By the Prince,"
and concludes with the formula used in the Council's

Ludlow and the Council of the Marches 145

letters, " Given under our Signet at the Castle of Ludlow
the vth day of December." The Prince's stay in the
Marches has been commemorated ever since by the name
of " Prince Arthur," which is attached to the room at the
western extremity of the group of main buildings in the
inner court A strange fatality attended all those of royal
blood who dwelt at Ludlow Castle. Edward V. had left
it, only to find a prison and a grave; Prince Arthur, on
whom so many hopes had been fixed, died there but five
months after his wedding day. After the Prince's death,
in 1502, Bishop Smyth, founder of Brasenose CoDege,
acted as President up to 15 12, and during these years
may be placed the transition from the Prince's Council
to the Council in the Marches of Wales. Little record of
its work survives, but we may gather that it was
empowered to punish rebellions and murders, and to array
the " fencible men " in time of need.

After several years of obscurity, the Council of the
Marches once more came into prominence in the year
1525, when the Princess Mary, not yet ten years of age,
was sent to the Border to keep Court there with the
Bishop of Exeter, John Voysey, as President. Elaborate
instructions were drawn up for the regulation of her
household, and chapel furniture, damask, velvet and cloth
were sent down from London in readiness for her arrival
In September, 1525, she paid a visit to her father at King's
Langley, probably to bid him farewell One of Wolse/s
correspondents tells him : " My lady princess came hither
on Saturday, surely, sir, of her age as goodly a child as
ever I have seen, and of as good gesture and countenance.
. . . Her Grace was not only well accompanied with
a goodly number, but also with divers persons of gravity,
venerandam habendam canitiem, I saw not the court,
sir, better furnished with sage personages many days than
now." The little Princess stayed in the Marches for some
ei^teen months, partly at Ludlow, partly at Thombury,
and at Tickenhill, near Bewdley. A letter addressed by
L

146 Memorials of Old Shropshire

six of her Council to Wolsey speaks of the great repair
of strangers expected at the coming Christmastide (1525
or 1526), and asks his pleasure respecting Christmas
entertainments — ^Lord of Misrule, interludes, and the Uke
— and also about New Yearns gifts for the King and
Queen, Wolsey himself, and the Queen of France. All
through 1526 negotiations were proceeding for Mary's
marriage to Francis L or his second scm, the Duke of
Orleans, and in the spring of 1527 she was summooed
from Ludlow to meet the French Commissicmers at
Greenwich. Her household in the Marches was xeduced,
partly by the easy process of requesting certain
abbots to take so many of the destitute servants unto
"convenient finding." Meanwhile, Wales and the
Marches remained in an unsatisfactory condition; the
Lord President, as a spiritual person, could not inflict the
death penalty for felony and murder, and CromweD was
compelled to note in his Remembrances again and again:
" The necessity of looking into the state of Wales."
" More than a hundred," he was told, ** have been slain in
the Marches of Wales since the Bishop of Exeter was
President there, and not one of them punished"

At last the Presidency of the Coimcil was given to a
man whose strong hand repressed the lawlessness which
from time immemorial had prevailed in the Marches.
Rowland Lee, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, held
office from 1534 to 1543, during which period we have,
from his own correspondence with Cromwell, a vivid
picture of the Coimcirs work. His task was not easy.
First and foremost, he had to punish manslaughter and
thievery, then to suppress riots, and to check the misdeeds
of royal and manorial officials and the prevalence pf
perjury on the part of juries. Soon his exertions bore
fruit, and he could write triumphantly to CromweU: "1
hope you understand the good order begun in Wales so
that thieves are afraid.*' Thieves were his special bugbear.
He writes with much indignation that at a certain cattle

Ludlow and the Council of the Marches 147

sale, Ridiard Lloyd, of Welshpool, "a gentleman and
a thief and a receiver of thieves," wore a doublet of
crimson velvet or satin, " which does not become a thief ;
the hanging of one such would cause forty to beware."
And again : " Good rule prevails here, for one cow keeps
another, which was never before. . . . The thieves
have hanged me in imagination, I trust to be even with
them shortly."

Lee's hope was certainly fulfilled, for by 1538 he could
write:

Wales wa« never in better order, all old factions forgotten . . .
Your subjects in Wales be in such order that since Christmas I hear
of neither stealing, riots, murders, nor manslaughters. In the Marches
and in Wales in the wild parts where I have been is order and quiet
tnch as is now in England.

Ludlow is mentioned several times in his letters. He
complains that in the Castle there was

Neither gun nor powder, only one hundred sheaf of arrows and forty bows
little worth ; not one string nor axe whereby I could do the King service,
two hundred and fifty Almain rivets, but neither gorget nor apron of
mail. Thank God the country u quiet.

The Castle itself was out of repair, and Lee resorted
to curious expedients to secure the necessary money. He
asked Cromwell if he might use the goods of a certain
murderer, valued at ^^40 or £so only, out of which some-
thing must be deducted for the relief of the widow and
children.

During Lee's presidency were passed the acts by
which the union of England and Wales was effected, and
the powers of the President and Council of the Marches
confirmed. Lee disapproved of the "shiring of Wales,"
and drew a dismal picture of the "bearing of thieves"
that would ensue. Nevertheless^ he set to work with his
usual energy to carry out the necessary changes. He
was equally ready to carry out the King^s will in matters
ecclesiastical. As he frankly confessed, he had ''never
heretofore been in pulpit," but he proceeded with his

148 Memorials of Old Shropshire

wonted businesslike thoioogfaness to cany out the Kingfs
injunctions as to preadiing. Lee was undoobtedty die
sternest and most effective of all the Lords President wlio
kept court at Ludlow. Month after month he scooied
Wales and the Marches, securing thieves in such numben
that neither Ludlow nor other castles were able to hold
them all in security. For many years to come the Wddi
trembled at the remembrance of ''Bishop Rowbncfs
justice," and the Shrewsbury chronicler a century later
wrote that he "had brought Wales into civility befoie
he died, and had said he would make the white sheep keq>
the black."

For several years after Lee's death little is knofwn
of the Council of the Marches beyond the names of the
Lords President But in 1559 b^an the tenure of offia
by one who left a mark both on Ludlow itself and on the
character of the people within his jurisdiction — Sir Henry
Sydney, father of Sir Philip, and one of the ablest and
worthiest among Elizabethan statesmen- The spirit in
which he governed may be best comprehended from his
own words, written towards the close of his life :

Great it is that in some sort I govern the third part of this reahn
under her most excellent Majesty ; high it is, for by that I have precedence
of great personages and by far my betters ; happy it is for the goodness
of the people whom I govern ; and most happy it ia for the commodity
I have, by the authority of that' place, to do good every day.

Sydney was Lord President from 1559 to 1586, but
many of these years were spent in the weary task of
crushing Irish rebellion. His visits to Ludlow were paid
between the years 1559 and 1565, 1571 and 1575, and
again between 1578 and his death in 1586. His famous
children, Philip and Mary, spent most of their childhood
in the Castle. There the little Ambrozia Sydney died, and
her monument may still be seen on the right hand of the
altar in St Lawrence's Church. No more fitting home,
surely, could have been chosen for the childhood of Philip^
whose friendship became to Fulk Greville the most

Ludlow and the Council of the Marches 149

predous gift of life, and of Mary "the ornament of all
womenkind"

Sydne/s term of office has left abundant records of
the work accomplished by the CouncQ, partly in the
detailed instructions issued at various times, and partly
in the correspondence between the Privy Council and
the Lord President or his deputy. The duties of the
Council were mainly, as hitherto, the keeping of order
and the punishment of offenders, the prevention of the
wearing of armour without leave in fairs, markets and
churches, and the suppression of the practice of livery,
which lasted longer in Wales and the North than else-
where. Numerous details are extant as to the officers of
the Council and the fees allowed ; we have even informa-
tion as to the meals supplied to prisoners in the Porter's
Lodge. The Porter was to keep in readiness two tables,
the first and best at 8d. a meal, and the second at 6d
The prisoner was to choose at his commitment at which
of these tables he would remain; if he refused to pay
his fees on the day following his commitment and the
ordinary diet charges every week-end, bonds were to be
taken for due payment Sydney did much to render the
castle a more fitting seat of the Council's jurisdictioa
He erected a range of buildings opposite the Chapel on
the south side of the court These included sundry
offices, a bridge into the castle, a courthouse, and two
offices undemeatfi for keeping the Council records.
Besides these he repaired the chapel, ceiled, glazed, and
tiled it, with " fair and large windows," and adorned it with
the arms of the Queen, sundry noblemen, and all the Lords
President and Councillors. Even this list does not exhaust
Sydney's improvements, for we read of the "wainscoting
and flooring of a great parlour within the castle," " a fair
tennis court within the same castle paved with freestone,"
and a conduit of lead more than a mile in length to convey
water to the castle. Churchyard, too, tells us that at the
end of the dining-chamber Sydney set a memorial of his

I50 Memorials of Old Shropshire

return to the Marches, " a pretty device how the hedgehog
brake the chain and came from Ireland to Ludlow.*
These buildings were probably finished about 1581, for in
that year the following inscription was put up over the
entrance to the inner court of the Castle, where it still
remains: —

Hominibos ingratis loquimini lapides

Anno regni Reginse Elizabethe 23

The aa Year Complet of the Presidency

of Sir Henry Sydney

Knight of the Most Noble Order of

The Garter, etc 1581.

Sydney had had some experience of man's ingratitude.
Towards the end of his life he had fallen out of favour
with the Queen, and had been censured for laxity in carry-
ing out the instructions concerning recusants; periiaps
the supervision of the castle buildings may have solaced
him in those years when health and strength had departed,
and honour and gratitude came in scanty measure.

During Sydney's long absence in Ireland many abuses
crept into the Council. Frequent complaints occur of
corruption, partiality, greed, delay and extravagance.
William Gerard, a member of the Council for over twenty
years, told Walsingham that the " house " at Ludlow was
one thousand marks in debt, and that the Porter's Lodge
"is grown to no terror of punishment of the body, but
a gulf through fees to suck up a mean man." He is
frankness itself in his description of his colleagues;
Sir Andrew Corbet, the Vice-President, was "a very
sickly man, not able to take the toil of that service."
Powell of Oswestry, was "well seen in Welsh stories, in
that service sitteth like a cipher." Jerome Corbet was
" a young man, an utter barrister in court, but so slow of
despatch as not meet for that court." Nor was his col-
league Fabian Phillips much more competent, for he was
but " a young man, an utter barrister of small experience
at the bar or bench, of no known living saving a bailiwick
or stewardship." If abuses prevailed in the Council, it

Ludlow and the Council of the Marches 151

was not for lack of reforming zeal in some quarters. In
the Lansdaume MSS. we can read page after page of
complaints and conmiands, which for the most part had
littk effect. For two years, however, from 1577 to 1579,
Sydney had an able deputy in Whitgift, then Bishop of
Worcester, who acted as Vice«-President with signal
success, and received the thanks of the Privy Council for
his services.

Frvm MH^

English Bridge, Shrewsbury.

{Old Emirmoinf,

On Sydney's death and the appointment of his suc-
cessor, the Earl of Pembroke, a great effort was made to
reform the Council Pembroke set to work to become
acquainted with its actual condition, and drew up a
valuable document embodying the results of his researches.
He was especially struck with three abuses, viz., the great
increase of fees, the unsatisfactory keeping of the record^
and the practice of examining witnesses by means of
young and inexperienced clients. He quotes a flagrant
instance of extortion on the part of the Serjeant-at-Arms,
who had been sent with an ordinary process of the Court

152 Memorials of Old Shropshire

(of the Council) to a Gloucestershire gentleman some forty
miles from Ludlow. He never executed the process,
for he did not find the party, but he had the e£Erontery
to demand against him before the Lord President the sum
of £240 in fees ; to his great chagrin he received no more
than £5-

Pembroke found that he had an uphiU task. In 1590
certain "hbelling articles" were exhibited against the
Council, but he was unable to justify himself in the
ordinary course of law, and could only say indignantly,
'' I am enforced in defence of my honour to say that in
these particulars which concern me alone, the first Ubeller
and he who commented thereupon do both lie in their
throats." Another vigorous campaign against abuses was
begun in 1590; excessive fees were abolished, the number
of superfluous counsellors, attorneys and clerks reduced,
and the household management re-organized. But the
Council had by now seen its best days ; the offices were
often regarded as convenient sinecures, and all important
cases were dealt with elsewhere — ^in the Privy Council,
the Star Chamber, or the Common Law Courts. Pem-
broke complained that he had been "misreported of
without desert, and maliced without cause." On the
other hand, in spite of undoubted abuses^ it would seem
that the Council was still esteemed In a dialogue written
in 1594 by George Owen, of Henllys, it is extolled as
"generally the very place of refuge for the poor
oppressed of this country of Wales to fly unto ; and for
this cause it is as greatly frequented with suits as any
one court at Westminster whatsoever, the more for that
it is the best cheap court in England for fees, and there
is great speed made in trial of all causes." The
speaker, Demetus, a Pembrokeshire man, admits that
abuses exist, but considers that they are small in com-
parison with the merits of the court, and might easily
be redressed.

With the close of Pembroke's term of office in 1602,

Ludlow and the Council of the Marches 153

the Council of the Marches entered upon troubled times.
Thenceforth until the overthrow of its criminal jurisdic-
tion in 1 64 1, an agitation was directed against its
jurisdiction in the Border counties, viz.: Shropshire,
Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire. *' The
tedious business of the Marches," as it was truly called,
occupied the attention of the best lawyers of the day,
Bacon among them. The arguments on both sides were
extremely complex, mainly because the word " Marches "
was ambiguous ; it might be used in the sense of Border,
as at the present day, or in the restricted sense of the
Marcher Lordships. Those who upheld the Council's
jurisdiction took the word in the wide popular sense;
those who opposed it, in the narrow legal sense, and as
the two sides differed on this fundamental question, it
is not surprising that the case dragged on to an uncon-
scionable length. Its interest lay mainly in this, that the
king's prerogative was conceived to be involved. "Dis-
cretionary governments," it was urged on the one side,
"are most dangerous, and therefore the fewer of them
in any state, the better." On the other hand, James
emphatically maintained that all novelties were dangerous.
The adversaries of the Council failed to gain their point
in the reign of James I., but they succeeded in 1641, when,
by the act abolishing the Star Chamber, the criminal
jurisdiction of the Lord President and Council was
overthrown.

From the strife and bitterness of these years it is a
relief to turn to two scenes at Ludlow which bring before
us with unwonted clearness the relations between the
Council and the town. On November 4th, 1616, the day
^en Charles was created Prince of Wales and Earl of
Chester at Whitehall, a stately ceremony was held at
Ludlow. It is described in a quaint tract, "The Love
of Wales to their sovereign Prince," printed in Clive's
History of Ludlow. The celebration began with the
affixing of the arms, name and style of the Prince under

154 Memorials of Old Shropshire

the pulpit in St Lawrence's Church, on the Castle Chapel,
and the Courthouse, also on the town gates and the dbief
posts and pillars of the market place. Then came a
procession of the Justice and Council and officials, escorted
by the bailifiFs, magistrates and chief brethren, to the
Church, where service was said, and "one Mr. Thomas
Pierson, a g^ave reverend divine and worthy preadier,
made a very learned sermon of an hour and half long."
As the company came out of the market-fJace they
stopped to listen to Latin and EngUsh verses " principally
invented and made by the painful industry of that judicious
and laborious Master of Arts* Humfrey Herbert, Chief
Schoolmaster of His Majesty's Free School there, upon
one day's warning." Specimens of these have been
preserved by our conscientious author. They are not a
little pathetic in their confident assurance that the youi^
Prince will "protect this happy government," and their
ardent hope —

O prosper may he, and his glory more
Than any Charles the world had e'er before.

The procession then passed on to the courthouse,
where the Justice delivered in praise of the Prince an
oration which was received with playing of music, beating
of drums, whistling of flutes, sounding of trumpets, shouts
and volleys, "the echo and report whereof resounded
admirably to the great solace and comfort of all present"
By now it was one o'clock — dinner-time for the Justice
and Council in the castle, and for the bailiffs and burgesses
in the town. No sooner was their meal ended than the
bailiffs again appeared with the choir, pennon-bearers and
waits, for evening service in the castle chapel. The
festivities were not even then ended, for on the morrow
was celebrated the deliverance of King and Queen, Prince
and Parliament from the " Papists' treasonable and horrible
conspiracy, and unmatchable intended practice of the
Gunpowder Treason."

Far more noteworthy was the celebration, eighteen

Ludlow and the Council of the Marches 155

years later (1634), of the entry upon ofl&ce of the Earl of
Bridgewater, who had been nominated Lord President in
1 63 1. He came to Ludlow attended by a large concourse
of the neighbouring nobility and gentry, and the
hospitalities, which continued through the greater part of
1634, were crowned by the performance on Michaelmas
Day of Milton's Comus in the great hall, now called the
Comus HalL The part of the Lady was performed by
Lady Alice Egerton, then fifteen years of age ; the parts
of the two Brothers by Lord Brackley and Mr. Thomas
Egerton, still young boys.

It is a striking proof of the immortalizing power of
poetry that the existence of President and Council is
best remembered now because Milton, still young and
little known, placed the scene of Comus in Ludlow and
the neighbourhood Seldom can a great poem have come
before the world in a setting so fair as on that Michael-
mas evening, when the Attendant Spirit entered to tell
the expectant throng how —

All this tract that fronts the falling sun
A noble Peer of mickle trust and power
Has in his charge with tempered awt to guide
An old and haughty nation, proud in arms ;
Where his fair offspring, nursed in princely lore,
Are coming to attend their father's state
And new-intrusted sceptre.

The Earl lived to see the downfall of the Court
over which he had come to preside with so much pomp.
After his first visit he did not often come to Ludlow, but
he received frequent letters from his steward there, Henry
Eccleston, an inveterate grumbler, who troubled his master
with all manner of trivial domestic details. In one letter
he even complains of a certain scullery woman who stole
spoons, saucers and dishes, and hid them in her trunk,
and in another he laments that the fines for the last two
terms have not brought in enough to pay the laundress.
The Earl replies in an equally doleful strain, insisting

156 Memorials of Old Shropshire

that Eccleston must be as economical as he can, and
that his own lands and revenues must not be spent on
maintaining the castle. However, the Earl watdied care-
fully over the business of the Council, such as it was, and
to his methodical habits we owe the preservation of a
niunber of entry books for the years 1632 to 1642, which
throw much light on the character of the cases that came
before the court From these it appears that debts and
affrays were the causes of many suits, but that other
matters were dealt with as welL AU through 1641 the
position of the Court was extremely precarious; bailifib
who tried to arrest offenders were assaulted, and orders
were neglected not only in the four counties, but in the
Principality. The civil jurisdicticm continued up to the
outbreak of the war, and an Entry Book is extant for
Trinity Term, 1642, showing that the number of suits
was but 69, as against 453 for the corresponding term
of 1640.

A few months later the Civil War broke out, and the
Court fell into abeyance. At the Restoration it was
revived with respect to its civil jurisdiction, which was
held to be untouched by the Star Chamber Act of 1641.
The new Lord President, appointed in 1661, was the
Earl of Carbery, who in 1665 was made Constable of
Ludlow Castle. The seal of the Court was engraved — the
size of a twenty-shilling piece — ^by Thomas Simon, the
king's engraver, and a large number of officials were
appointed

Ludlow Castle had suffered severely during the Civil
Wars, and considerable sums were allotted for its repair.
It would seem, however, that the Earl neglected the
buildings, put in old household stuff, and converted to
his own use the plate and goods provided

Between the Restoration and the Revolution the
Court of the Marches became more and more insignificant
On one occasion only was its former dignity revived, when
in 1682 the Duke of Beaufort, last President but one, made

Ludlow and the Council of the Marches 157

a state journey through his Presidency. This " Beaufort
Progress" is described at great length in a MS. volume
written and illustrated by Thomas Dingley, or Dineley,
one of the Duke's escort at the time. It has twice been
reproduced in facsimile, and forms an important record
for Wales and the Border on the eve of the Revolution.^
On the arrival of the cavalcade at Ludlow, the Duke was
received by the Bailiffs and the Common Council with
great expressions of joy by the people. In the centre of
the town, near the High Cross and public fountain. His
Grace was presented with sweetmeats and wines, after
which a reception was held at the castle. On the next
day, after service in the castle chapel, the Duke, "in his
rich robes of presidency," walked to the courthouse, where,
after the Chief Justice of Chester had dehvered the charge,
the rest of the forenoon was spent in hearing cases.
After this all the company were again entertained at a
magnificent dinner in the castle, each person striving to
outdo the rest in manifestations of loyalty to His Majesty
and respect to His Grace.

This brief sketch of the history of the Council of
the Marches shows that for over two hundred years it
was closely connected with Ludlow. The castle was its
most frequent meeting-place, and among the docimients
dealing with its proceedings are numerous notices of
repairs carried out under Lee and Sydney, and the Earls
of Bridgewater and Carbery. Coats of arms to the
number of 256 once existed in the Castle, including the
arms of various sovereigns, the Lords President, the
Councillors, and some of the early owners of the castle.
Several of these are preserved to this day in the dining
room of the Bull Inn. During the Civil War the king's
goods at Ludlow Castle were sold by order of the Council
of State, the value of the whole being ;f 341 8sw 4d.

IThat part of it which concerns Ludlow was commimicated to the
Ludlow Advirtiser by Mr. T. H. Williams, Towd Clerk of the bonnigh,
and printed in the iisne for lioTember a5th, 1905.

158 Memorials of Old Shropshire

How far the castle had fallen from its ancient gloiy
is shown by the entry under the heading"^ ** Court House
of Justice." This contained a feather bolster and a brass
pot, value fourteen shillings, while the seat of justice, taUe
and benches were valued at ten shillings. Three pieces of
tapestry hangings formerly used in the Court were valued
at £4 6s. 8d In the withdrawing room were two pictures,
" the one of the late king, and the other of his queen ** ;
but less store was set by them than by the table and
benches, for they were valued at ten shillings. After 1689
the castle was left to fall into decay. By degrees the
fabric was stripped of lead, timber and carvings, but even
in 1708 forty rooms were entire, and sixty years later
the arms of some of the Lords President were still visible.
In the Ludlow Museum is an ancient record or deed
chest with three locks, which in the early part of the
eighteenth century was filled with tapestry and armour,
and conveyed for safety from the castle to the church ; but
in vain, for it was rifled of its contents.

In a MS. volume relating to Shropshire preserved in
the Bodleian Library, is a noteworthy entry relating to
Ludlow, which appears to establish the fate of the
voluminous records of the Council, once preserved in the
record-chamber within the Castle.^ The writer speaks of
the courthouse as a place " once of great request, in which
all the records belonging to the Court of the Marches were
kept ; but since the Revolution it has been utterly ruined,
and the records have been taken out by the dragoons and
people of the town for their own use, or sold by the
dragoons to them."

Many memorials of the Councillors and their relations
are preserved in St. Lawrence's Church at Ludlow, which
contains the monuments of Edmimd Walter, Edmund
Waties, Ambrozia Sydney, Sir Robert and Dame Anne
Townesend, and Dame Mary Eure, wife of a Lord

1 Blakcway. Saiap MSS. ii. Shropshire Parochial History, H to N.
SMf Catalogue, No. 22,090.

• li :

Ludlow and the Council of the Marches 159

President in the reign of James I. The churchwardens'
accounts show how important a part the Council played
in the life of the borough. Such matters as the repair
of the Lord President's pew, and the fees paid to bell-
ringers on his arrival at Ludlow, are frequently mentioned
The Council's overthrow was clearly resented, and when
in May, 1649, Sir Marmaduke Lloyd's pew was granted
to the mayor, a proviso was added that if the former
occupier came again to reside in the town, the grant
should be void The town authorities did their best to
welcome the Lord President and Councillors; one entry
records that 3d was paid for someone to attend Mr.
Justice's coming on the steeple, the high tower of the
church being the best available place of outlook.

In the valuable collection of borough records at
Ludlow there is abundant evidence to illustrate the
relations between the Council and the borough authorities.
Gifts of money, wine, oxen, sugar, and so forth, were
constantly made to the Lord President and Council, and
even the Councillors' wives sometimes had a share. On
the other hand, the corporation received jwresents of bticks
and does from the Lord President.

The actual working of the Court of the Marches is
shown by the large number of orders for stay of suits
before the bailiffs, or for release of prisoners from gaol
"according to the ancient privilege of our Court with
our said Council and our instructions to them in that
behalf granted." Such orders were often issued in favour
of persons employed in the castle household or on repairs
of the buildings. Often the bailiffs would be ordered to
come up to the castle lodge and receive prisoners who
were to be set in the pillory or whipped in the market-
place. Once they were ordered to set in the stocks one
John Clench, "for stealing of our pewter out of our
castle of Ludlow." He was to be set in the stocks in
the midst of the market-place, with one of his legs through
the same and a pewter dish about his neck hanging before

i6o Memorials of Old Shropshire

him, and remain thus from eleven in the forenoon till
one in the afternoon. Another order directs that a
certain Griffith ap Rees, " who was taken upon suspidon
of picking of pockets and thievery, and his hand taken in
another man's pockets," was to be whipped in open market
between twelve and two o'clock, and then brought bade
to the Porter's Lodge.

Members of the Council at times held office in the
borough, e.g.y Sir John Bridgeman and Henry Townesend
were Recorders, receiving a salary of £2 per annum.
Several of the Councillors built houses in Ludlow.
Churchyard tells us of " the fair house by the gate of the
making of Justice Walter," of the " fair house that Master
Secretary Fox did bestow great charges on," and of
"the fair house belonging to Mr. Townesend," that was
once a friary. Respect towards the Council was rigidly
enforced by the town authorities, as is seen by the abject
petition for release by a man imf>risoned in Galford's
Tower (the town gaol) for having uttered words of abuse
against Sir Thomas Comewall.

The influence of the Council on the condition of the
town is shown in a very unfavourable light in the following
passage from Baxter's Memoirs-. —

The house was great, there being four judges, the King's attoraej,
the clerk of the fines, with all their servants, and all the lord president's
servants and many more ; and the town was full of temptations, through
the multitude of persons (counsellors, attorneys, officers, and clerks), and
much given to tippling and excess.

After the Restoration the presence of the Council
could do the town little good and little harm, for the
household numbered only ten as against the long list of
officials in Sydney's day.

Such in brief outline is the history of the Council
which for over two centuries had jurisdiction in Wales
and the Border counties. It was founded in days when
there was ample need for extraordinary measures, if the
abuses of feudalism — conflict of jurisdictions, private war,

Ludlow and the Council of the Marches i6i

riots and robberies — were to be repressed. For nearly a
century the Council punished lawlessness with which the
common law courts had no strength to deal During the
succeeding half-centuxy it acted both as a judicial and an
administrative body, the instrument of the Privy Council
in Wales and the Marches. During this period the dignity
of the Council increased, and its working became more
r^rular, but the cases with which it dealt were less serious
than in earlier years, and by the end of the century its
decline had begun. In the seventeenth centuxy it was
mainly a court for the settlement of petty suits, and the
elaborate establishment which had descended from the
days when princes had kept court at Ludlow seemed un-
necessary. Unpopular as it became, it had done useful
work in the past, and even as late as the Revolution some
held that a special court for Wales was a distinct
advantage, considering the difficulty and expense of a
journey to Westminster. Had the Council come to an end
with the sixteenth century, it would probably have been
remembered with gratitude ; by lasting nearly a century
too long it gained an evil reputation for extravagance and
oppression. Of the Council in the Marches, as of many
institutions in the past, it may be said with truth : " To
everything there is a season; a time to be bom, and a
time to die." ^

C. A. J. Skeel.

1 Further details at to the history of the Comicil of the Marches mar be
feand in the Author^l Th§ Council in tki Marcka of Walts (Hugh Rees,
19*4).
M

SHROPSHIRE AND THE CIVIL WAR
1 642- 1 646

By John Ernest Auden, M.A

Victt of ToDg

I HERE is not room in a short and slight sketch
to discuss the causes which gave rise to the
struggle between Charles I. and his Parliament
Suffice it, therefore, to say that the breaking ofiF
of negotiations was followed on both sides by preparation
for immediate war. One of the first acts of the King
was to forward to Shropshire the appointment of a
Commission of Array for that county, dated June 22nd,
1642. The selected members of this were Prince Charles
(then aged 12) ; Thomas, Earl of Anmdel, of Clun ; John,
Earl of Bridgwater, of Ellesmere, Lord President of the
Marches (who soon afterwards joined the Parliament);
William, Lord Craven, of Stokesay; Edward, Lord
Herbert, of Chirbury ; John Weld, of WiUey, then High
Sheriff; and others. By virtue of it they were required
to send out a warrant summoning the "Ancient Traynes
and freehould bands of the County," and to take care
that they were " well arrayed " and " under the Conduct
of such Captaynes as were persons of qualitie, honor, and
considerable Estates and Interest in the County."

But Shropshire was " not all on one side, like a Bridg-
north election," and two men at least lost no time in
shewing whose cause they had determined to support
Thomas Hunt, of Shrewsbury, assumed the pKDsition of
Captain of Militia, then called up men and began to make

162

Shropshoui and the Civil War 163

preparations to defend the'county town against the King;
and Robert Charltox]^ of Apley, near Wellington, got
together nearly two hundred recruits to join him.
Charlton, assisted by the Rev. Samuel Fisher, " a godlie
minister," afterwards at St Mary's, Shrewsbury, had also
tried to win over his neighbour, Sir Richard NeWport,
of High Ercall, though to no purpose. Sir Richard
came to Shrewsbury and assisted Sir Francis Ottley, of
Pitchford, in strongly opposing Hunt The firm stand
which these two made for the Sang had great effect in
the county, where many were then wavering as to which
side to take, and was well remembered also when the
Parliament gained the upper hand ; for among the charges
brought against Sir Richard was this — ^that after opposiii|r
Captain Hunt "the said Sir Richard was one of the
forwardest of the Conmiittee of Array, being one himselfi
to remove the magazine (which was by consent committed
to ye charge of certaine well affected Aldermen in Shrews-
bury) to Bridgnorth and Ludlow ; all which we beli^f^
being many of us present, was the loss of this towne a^
ye cause why ye King was encouraged to come to Shrejyt-
bury."

Whether owing to Newport's influence or not, on
August 8th (a fortnight almost before the King raised his
standard at Nottin|^am), the Grand Jury at the Shropshire
Assizes, to the number of 103, signed a declaration
averring they were "ready to obey His Majesty in all
lawful ways for putting the county in a posture of defence,
and to adventure their lives and fortunes in defence of
his royal and sacred person." Many of the clergy of the
county also signed a similar resolution a few days later.

The receipt of such promises probably influenced
Charles considerably in taking the final step of raising
his standard This he did on August 25th, 1642, a wet
and stormy day, and at once used all the means in his
power to tally an army round it, sending, e,g,t orders to
Sir Francis Ottley to raise a company of two hundra^.

i64 Memorials of Old Shrcmpshire

infantry, and take them without loss of tiioe to Shrewsbury
in order to secure the town and defend the loyal in-
4iabitant&

Leaving Nottingham on September 13th, Qiarles
marched to Derby, his mind not yet made up ^^^lether to
go to' Chester or Shrewsbiuy, though resolved " to sit down
near the borders of Wales, where the power of the Parlia-
ment had been least prevalent, and where some r^riments
of foot were levying for his service." ^ At Derby, however,
enthusiastic accounts reached him of the loyalty of
Shropshire, and after a three nights' stay he proceeded to
Uttoxeter on the 16th, to Stafford on the 17th, and to
Wellington on the 19th. At this last town a rendezvous
was held of all the royal forces, and after the military
orders had been read to each r^^ent, the King placed
himself in their centre, and made his famous declaration
that he would "defend and maintain the Protestant
Religion, and the just privileges and freedom of
Parliament"

The next day, towards evening, His Majesty entered
Shrewsbury amid the acclamations of the mayor, aldermen,
and populace, and took up his residence at the Council
House, several of his Court finding accommodation with the
Headmaster of the Schools, Thomas Chaloner, and the
Second Master, David Evans.

But while all this was taking place, the Parliament
had not been inactive. It had, in July, appointed the
Earl of Essex as Captain General of its forces ; and he,
knowing that the King's great object was to march on
London, made it a special aim to keep him at a distance
from the capitaL For this end he placed garrisons in
a series of towns from Northampton westward, to bar the
King's path, and himself seized Worcester, not, however,
without a smart skirmish with Prince Rupert. Though
the Prince won reputation and renown as a dashing
cavalry leader from this fight on September 23rd, he

1 Clarendon.

Shropshire and the Civil War 165

found Worcester too large and weak a place to hold with
the fences at his disposal, and retreated towards Shrews-
bury. Essex thereupon marched north to seize other
towns

Advancing towards Ludlow he drove in Rupert* s out-
posts, and attacked the town, which the Prince had
fortified with entrenchments and the mounting of many
guns. These opened fire as soon as the army of the
ParUament came within range, and the contest lasted from
about 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, October ist At
length the Royalists, having lost many men, were com-
pelled to evacuate the castle and retreat

Ludlow in his power, Essex turned his attention to
Bridgnorth, and the next day sent his Quartermaster
there to arrai^e for the billeting of ten raiments of
horse and nearly six thousand foot, a proceeding which
was only carried through by proclaiming that those who
refused would incur the danger of having their houses
plundered by soldiers "accustomed to take uix>n them-
selves the execution of justice without fear, or law, or
religion.'' On the evening of Tuesday (October 4th), the
Earl was expected to enter his new quarters. But about
mid-day scouts brought word that a large force of Royalists
imder Lord Strange, Prince Maurice, and other officers,
was drawing near. (For defence Bridgnorth had received
from Worcester the night before five field pieces and
three troops of horse.) A general muster of citizens was
at once ordered, and every man from sixteen to fifty armed
himself with what weapon he could obtain. The guns
mounted upon the churches and other suitable positions
gave the oncoming troops a warm reception. The bows
and arrows of the townsmen, too, proved efficacious against
the enem/s musketeers, who wore no defensive armour.
While the skirmish was taking place Essex himself
approached with several regiments of horse. To meet
them Lord Strange drew up some of his own troopers in
an open field, but attacked by cavalry front and rear they

i(S6 ICkvoriaas or Ou> SmopsiaRS

were soon tbcown into ooDfnstofi^ and his wImc focoe
le&eal^ afiandrniing BridtEnorth to tlie Pariianienii Tbe
caflialty list of both sides was n yo c ted to be togedier '
abtet ei^ty Idled and forty-five wounded; but the
Royalists lost Lord Paulet and six other offioen takea
prisoner.

Thfe King had meanwhile left Shrewsbny on Friday,
Septesiber 33rd* lunched at WUtdrardi on his way^ and
jjMked Chester about 5 pjn. Here he stayed till the
*ifiiu and 'then returned.
. On the morrow a muster was hdd of the Royal troops
In a meadow called Ae Gay,"* where also the ptkidfal
gentry of the comity had been oonvened by the new
> sheriff, Henry Bromley, of Shrawaidine. To them and to
the soldiers Hb Majesty made a speedi, in wfaidi tit
expressed his satisfaction that the insolence and misfor-
tunes whidi drove him about his kingdom had brought
him to so good and faithful a part of it, and his hopes
that they would not be great sufferers by the excesses of
his soldiers, which he promised to do his best to restrain.
He then told them he had sent for a mint, and would
melt down all his plate and sell or mor^[age all his own
land to relieve the pressure, and adjured them to afford
him peomiary help.

His last appeal did not fall on deaf ears. Sir Ridiard
Newport gave ;&6,ooo, and was made a Peer ; Sir Thomas
Lister, of Rowton, a purse of gold, and was knighted;
others helped as they could. And when the Mint arrived
f roqi Ab^stwith " such proportions of plate and money
were brought in that the army was fully and constantly
paid" 1

The School authorities also lent £600 for the Royal
Cause — ^never to be returned A printing press was
ordered, but apparently was not made great use <rf, for
a year later complaints were sent to the Governor of
Shrewsbury that his "press was idle, and did the King

ICUrendon.

Shropshire and the Civil War 167

no service^ and* while the Parliament's pami^ilets were in
everyone's hands, no country work w^ published to
antidote their poisoa" This was not a groundless diaige,
for most of the news letters ^hich have been preserved
are in the interests of the latter.

On his last Simday, Charles, at a celebration of the
Holy Communion at St Mary's Churdi, repeated the
solemn protestation he had already made at Wellington.
Then, on the Wednesday following, October 12th, 1§4SIIL
orders were given for the i^ole army to move onwartfr
to Bridgnorth, now freed from the enemy. For Essex, on
hearing how the King's army had grown in strength durid^
the stay at Shrewsbury, had thought it prudent to evacuate
this town and Ludlow, and retire back to Worcester. ,
Most of the Royal forces proceeded by road, though the
ammunition and some troops were conveyed by river.

Immediately after Bridgnorth was reached a proclama-
tion was published, accusing among others Humphrey
Mackworth, Thomas Hunt, and Thomas Nichols, all of
Shrewsbury, of treason, and ordering their arrest, but they
had, to use an expression of Head Master Chalonq;;
" vespertilionised** On the 13th there was a rendezvous
of the whole army, which appeared very cheerfuL Two
days later it left en route for Oxford and London ; and
on the 25th the first pitched battle of the Civil War was
.fought at Edge Hill, where neither side could with truth
claim a victory.

After Edge Hill Shropshire seems to have been fairly
quiet for a month or two. But towards the close oi^ the
year the principal gentry of the county entered on a mutual
engagement or resolution to raise one entire raiment of
dragoons (oiir modem mounted infantry), of which* Sir
Vincent Corbet, formerly Captain of Horse, was to be
Commander-in-Chief. The dei^ of the county at the
same time offered him one hundred horse, and the towns-
men of Shrewsbury promised a troop of sixty dragoons
and two hundred foot for Sir Francis Ottley, Captain of

■v

i68 Memorials of Old Shropshire

their Towxl December 20th was the day, and Batde&dd
the place, for tl^e money or the horses to be faroix|^ in.

These troops soon saw activt service, for directly tfaey
were enlisted they were ordered to Whitchurch as a guard
against inroads from Nantwich, which latter town they
were drawn out to attack on January 28th, but met with
no success, for Sir William Brereton took a considerable
number prisoner, and in his Despatches accused Sir
Vincent of crawling away on all fours to esc^ie
recognition, and then running bareheaded for six miles.
At all events this latter officer wrote the next day to
ifilrewsbury for all the surgeons possible to go at once
to Whitdiurch, for ** there was great need of them."

However a greater danger soon threatened Shropshire
in the advance of the large Parliamentary army under
Lord Brooke, reported to consist of 15,000 dragoons;
and with him, to the consternation, no doubt, of many
Royalists, were Sir John Corbet, of Adderley, Thomas
Hunt and John Wing&eld, of Shrewsbury, and many others
who had been "plundered" as rebels. While his main
army halted to besiege Lichfield Close, some advance
guards entered the confines of the county at Newport

But on March 2nd Brooke met his death by a shot from
the Cathedral while directing the bombardment, and all
immediate danger from that side was averted by the battle
of Hopton Heath on March 19th, in which the Parlia-.
mentarians were defeated, and the Earl of Northampton,
the Royalist commander, killed. Sir William Brereton in
his report of this fight says : — " The Shropshire horse and
dragoons came on with great resolution and boldness, and
in very good order," which is high praise from an enemy.

At the end of March the King, in order to cope with
the increasing strength of his opponents, appointed Lord
Capel as special commander of the troops in Shropshire
and the adjacent coimties, with Colonel-General Sir
Nicholas Byron as second in conmiand, and Sir Michael
Woodhouse as Sergeant-Major of Foot under them. And

Shropshire and the Civil War 169

00 sooner had the new Commander reached Shrewsbury
than he summoned a Council of War to meet in the
Library of the SdiooL The names of those present at
its second sitting, on April "3rd, 1643, ^^^ ^^^^^Q preserved.
They were Arthur, Lord Capel, Lieut-General of Salop ;
Henry Bromley, High Sheriff; Sir Francis Ottlty,
Governor of Shrewsbury; Sergt-Major General Wood-
house; Lieut-CoL Sir John Mennes, General of Ordnance
to the Prince of Wales; Sir Ridiard Lee, of Langley;
Sir John Weld, of Willey, ex-High Sheriff; Edward
Cressett, Esq., of Upton Cressett ; and Eusebius Andrew^
Secretary.

Capel also lost no time in inspecting his various
garrisons, and ordered the defences of Shrewsbury,
Ludlow, and Bridgnorth to be strengthened, and a more
careful watch to be kept At the first of these, according
to Gough,^ the gates of the Castle were repaired, many
houses near it pulled down, and water brought from the
river by means of a deep ditch. A strong fort was also
built at the upper end of Frankwell, on the road leading
to Oswestry and Welshpool, in which cannon were
mounted. At Bridgnorth outworks were erected to guard
the fords, and the Town Hall, which stood outside the
walls, was destroyed. The North and Hungry Gates were
also garrisoned. Troops, too, were billeted in many of
the castles and manor houses of the county, amongst others
Apley, Caus, and Tong, the water-way of the Severn being
protected by the use of Ensdon House, Atcham Church,
Bentall, Apley Park, and Buildwas, as block houses. Lqcd
Capel himself, with Sir Michael Woodhouse, fixed his^
headquarters at Whitchurch in order to prevent incursions
of the enemy from Nantwich, and to keep open communi-
cation between Chester and Shrewsbury, Sir Vincent
Corbet being posted with his Shropshire regiment at
Malpas.

: Sfc

I History of Middle , p. 176.

I70 MmouALs ow Old Shsopshieb

To oopnteiact tbe effects of CapePt Ktifity* the
Padiament on April lodi, 1643, appoiiited a " Cnmmillrr
of Tweo^ fcMT the Aasociation of the Comities of Shrap-
soiiei Staffonlah]ze» and Wocoestenhire.'* Its menuxis
were the diief local opponents of the King^ with Sir John
Girbet zst Presdent and Cdond-General and Thomas
Mytton, of Halstcm^ as his Assistant-in-Chief .

Da]^[er now threatened tfie Kin(fs canae in thcwsouth
of the eourtyt for Sir \l^Hiam WaOei^ having; taken
Hereford on April 35th, advanced to Lndlow and hiii
siege to the Casde. UnaUe^ however, to obtain poiseaiion
of this fortress at tiie firrt attempt, and in fear far Ids
own safety, since the Cavaliers were very strog^ in the
neighbourhood, he retreated onoe more to Herefotd.

But in a few wedcs a heavy disaster bef dl His Majesty
in aaother quarter. An entry in the parish register of
the place says: —

The 30 daj of May, 1643, Whitclmxch was surprised aod Uken bf
Sir Win. Breweiton's Forces.

The circumstances were these. Capel had drawn oat
the greater part of the garrison to accompany his
expedition to relieve Warrington. Brereton learned of
ibiB through a prisoner, slipped by Woodhouse (the deputy
governor), seized the town, killed many royalists, took
forty prisoners^ and as booty five hundred anns» and
£2fiOO collected to pay Capd's soldiers.

Next month, the Parliament, wishing to push matters,
appointed Sir Thomas Middleton, of Chirk, as Secgeant-
Major General of all its forces in North Wales and the
boRlering counties, and the Earl of Denbigh as Lieut-
General for Shropshire, Cheshire, and Staffordshire.

Capel, learning of this, at once thought of the
undefended state of Oswestry, and on July loth rode over
with one thousand horse and dragoons to entrench .and
fortify Ibe town, and by this probably saved it for a
time for tbe King.

Shropshire and the Civil War 171

Up to now the Parliament had no garrison of any size
in Shropshire. The first step, therefore, of the new officers
and the committee was to discover a place whence thejr
could most successfully annoy their opponents. Wem was
the only unoccupied town near the centre of the county,
and though only eig^t miles from Whitchurch and ten
from Shrewsbury, it was determined to seize it Accord-
ingly, Colonels Mytton, Hunt, and Mackworth, accom-
panied by the Rev. Richard Baxter, now a military
chaplain, got together a body of troops, marched to Wem,
and set to work to fortify it Ten days after their coming
Sir Thomas Middleton himself arrived with seven great
pieces of ordnance, four cases of drakes,^ forty carriages
of ammunition, and a large body of recruits from London.

Emboldened by this great access of strength, he, with
his colleague Brereton, determined to make an attempt
on Shrewsbury, whose garrison was now mainly the Train
Bcmds, the regular troops having gone away on the march
which ended in the first battle of Newbury (September
20th) — a disastrous day for the King. They, therefore,
collected about seven thousand men and began the siege.
They "made their approaches very near the town, and
gained the bridge, whereby they raised their batteries to
the great annoyance of the enemy," captured " some pabrt
of the suburbs,'' and slew or took many of the defenders
when they made a sally.

News of Shrewsbury's peril having reached Oxford,
Prince Rupert instantly started to its aid with 3,500 horse,
picking up on his way the royal forces at Coventry.
Hearing of his rapid approach, Brereton and Middleton
raised the siege, and retired to await another opportuiiity.

To annoy Capel and prevent his incursions into ^e
neighbourhood of Wem, Brereton quartered two or three

1 A drake was a imall field-piece of nanow bore ; and " a case " or
" box " of drakes was a piece of artillery oonstsHng of several bvrels nnited
together, somewhat after the fashion of a mitraillettse, which coald be
fired simnhaneonsly, or in quick sncceuion.

172 Memorials of Old Shropshire

companies of dragoons in Loppington ChmdL^ This
being looked upon as a piece of impertinence at Shrews-
bury, Capel attempted a surprise. Failing in this^ his
men attacked the diurch» the garrison refusing to yidd
and firing from the windows Thinking it hazardous to
life to attempt a storm, orders were given to fire the roof
and the porch. An officer of Capel's r^^iment, d escrib in g
the skirmish in a letter to his lordship's daughter, says
that his commander " shewed us great gallantry and sIdH
in storming and taking Loppington Church, where die
enemy had fixed a garrison, till my lord forced them out,
and was the busiest among his soldiers in canying faggots
to the porch." Then a surrender was made, and die
prisoners at once conducted by the Royalist horse to
Shrewsbury. Brereton, as soon as he had heard of their
peril, sent a strong force to assist his garrison, and thoi^
it came too late to prevent their capture it overtook Capd's
foot and defeated them with the loss of Captain Needham,
son of Lord Kilmorey, and other prisoners.

This partial defeat, and the presence of the garrison
at Wem rankled in CapeVs mind, and he began to make
arrangements to deprive the enemy of their new conquest
Therefore, collecting all the troops which could be spared
from the neighbouring garrisons, he assembled them at
Ellesmere, in number about three thousand, with six
guns. The first night the camp was at Colemere, whence
they marched to Whitchurch, which had not been retained
by the enemy. Middleton, expecting the attack on Wem,
drew out most of the garrison to Frees Heath, and waited
long for Capel. But the latter suddenly altered his course,
and at full speed made for Nantwich on ascertaining that
most of the soldiers stationed there had been drawn out
to Wem. There were, however, enough left to repulse his
assault. Middleton, on his part, led his men hard after

1 Churches were so frequently used by both sides in the Civfl War
for military purposes simply because they were often practicaUy the ctAy
building in the place capable of defence. This was also the case in the
Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1.

Shropshire and the Civil War 173

Capel, who at their approach doubled back to make an
attempt on Wem in their absence. Here he arrived on
Tuesday morning, at once dismounted about eighty horse»
and seni them to storm the entrenchments, which they
succeeded in gaining ; but several of their officers having
been wounded, and CoL Wynn killed, they drew back and
oould not be induced to try a second time. This was more
than Capel could bear, and in rage and grief he refused to
leave the trenches his men had so lately mastered, but
took out his pipe and proceeded to light it, though all the
while exposed to a hot fire from the enemy's musketeers,
his friends having at last to force him away. The casualty
list at Wem shows what was more than once forgotten by
our officers in South Africa, the usual costliness of a
frontal attack on an entrenched position, for the garrison
only lost in killed Major Marrow and two men, but there
fell of the storming party Colonel Wynn and between
thirty and forty soldiers.

By the time a retreat to Shrewsbury was ordered,
Middleton's forces had come near enough to enter on a
pursuit, which was followed up to Lee Bridge. Here,
however, Capel fought a determined rearguard action in
order that his artillery and baggage might reach safety.
And though in the end the Parliamentary troops gained
the bridge, it was with a loss of five killed and fifteen
wounded, while on the other side ten were killed and
many wounded and made prisoners, among those
mortally hurt being Sir Thomas Scriven, of Frodesley,
Governor of Whitchurch. But ere this the field train had
reached its destination without loss.

This success was the last gained by the Parliament for
some two months, for the cessation of hostilities in Ireland
enabled the King to recall his troops from there, and
also to enlist on his side many native Irish. In fact, on
November 21st Middleton sent word to the House of
Conmions that the Royalist forces had so increased in
Shropshire and the neighbouring counties that he must be

174 MEiiOBiALs or Old Shropshbe

supplied with mofe men and moiicy to oope with thcni
He abo widuhew most of his ammnnitinn and' stoves faosi
Wem to Nantwidi for its greater secmity.

Bbt about this time things were not gmng an satii-
f actority at Sh r e ws b ury . Disturbances arose betwea
Ctipdls troops and tiie townsmen, whidi ended in a sio^
in ^iduch six or seven of the latter were IdDed bgr fht
former, an act of which the cnmmandrr took no cqg*
nizance The ill-feeling enge n dere d by this
removal, and uie appointment of a new grnfnil m
Rupert, known to readers of Jokm Ingiammi an^^
Palsgrave. But before he could take up hb i
King^s cause had suffe red a heavy dnasber in

Owing to the crew of a ship conveying
from Bristol to Chester mutinying, and taking^ the'
to Liverpool, then in the hands of the Pariiamenl^ Ite
Governor of Chester was in great want of that artkle.
He, therefore, sent a strong convoy to fetch a supply Iram
Shrewsbury. There were, however, many traitors in lUi
town ; one at least in a high position. For the
tration Committee of Shropshire, on the dose of the
wrote: —

When we first took footing within this county and were penned i^
in that poor garrison of Wem, having ye enemy round about va, \m
residence being ye most part in Shrewsbury, Sir William Owen, of
Condover, Knight, who was in the [King's] Commission of Arraft fccU
correspondence with ns, and by his faithful constant intelligence to m
of ye enemy's motions and designs, was a great means of o«ir
and preservation in that place; and in ye meantime of that in
and compliance with ns, he freely offered us the possession of his
being a strong stone building within 3 myles distance of Shrewaboiyt
and might have speedily been made defensible had we been in a condiCson
to have accepted it, and to have garrisoned it for the Parliament.1

Sir William, or some other " false brother " in Shrews-
bury, sent intelligence of this convoy to Wem. Colonel
Mytton determined to attempt its capture. On the way
from Shrewsbury towards Chester, a halt for the night

1 Signed at Shrewsbury on May 30th, 1646, by Humphrey hCackworth»
Robert Charlton, Andrew Lloyd, Leighton Owen, and Robert Clive.

i'.

1/6 Memorials of Old Shropshire

determined to try a strats^fem on Oswestry. Its Govemor,
Colonel Lloyd, of Lknforda, was a ban vivant^ and liked
ja good dinner. It was propibsed that a seeming faiend
should invite him to dine at his house ; a troop of cavaky
should surprise him there, take him before Oswestry, and
force him to order his officers to surrender the town.
Unfortunately for the success of this plot two of Mytton's
scouts were taken, and Lloyd, discovering what was oo
foot, hurried back to his castle.

The presence of the garrison at Wem must have been,
to say the least, very inconvenient to the inhabitants of
Shrewsbury. And there is probably some truth in tir
sarcastic words of the Informator Rusticus^ a Parlia-
mentary news sheet, when it declares that the fortifying
of that place is

Somewhat offensive and prejudicial to the ladies in Sh r ew sbur y, who
by this means are prevented of taking the fresh air and repairing to their
country habitation, by which it ia to be presumed their blood will wax
pale, and they frustrate of that delectable recreation as the country might
afford them.

Be this as it may, Sir Francis Ottley did his best to
curb inroads from Wem by posting soldiers in Moreton
Corbet Castle and Albright Hussey Manor House. Con-
cerning the garrison at the latter place, Gough, in hb
History of Middle} tells the following story: —

The garrison soldiers from Wem made theire outroads many times
allmost to the walls of Shrewsbury ; and to prevent this insolence, the
Governor of Shrewsbury placed a garrison att Albright Hussey [near
Battlefield], and [Sergeant Preccc, alias] Scoggan, was governor of it.
A party of Horse of the Parliament side came on a Sunday, in the
afternoone, and faced this garrison, and Scoggan, standing in a window
in a upper room, cryed aloud that the others heard him, " Lett sndi a
number goe to such a place, and soe many to such a place, and let
twenty come with mee '* ; (butt heer had but eight in all in the house).
And Scoggan seeing one Philip Bunny among the enemyes, who was a
taylor^ borne in Hadnall, hee tookea fowling gun, and called to Bunny
and said, " Bunny have at thee ! " and shott him through the legge and
killed his horse. The Parliament soldiers took up Bunny and departed.

^^ History of Middle, p. 8i.

Shropshire and the Civil War 177

Soon after this the garrison was recalled att the request of Mr. Pelham
Corbett, who feared that the Parliament soldiers would come and fire
his buildings.

Prince Rupert arrived in Shrewsbury in Februar]%
1643-4, and in a very short time exhibited to Shyopshire
moQ his f aiflous dash and skill as a leader of Horse. " For
Rupert never comes but to conquer or to fall" It having
been reported that a column about seven hundred strong,
under Sir William Fairfax and Colonel Mytton, were
quartering' at Market Drayton, he drew out some of his
own men to attempt a surprise. But the Shrewsbtuy
traitqrs sent word beforehand of the intended attack, and
when he neared the town the Prince found a strong body
of hostile cavalry drawn out ready to meet him. He was
with the vangu^d of only two troops (the main body
being* nearly two miles behind), but without a moment's
hesitation led them to the charge with such reckless
courage that they dashed the opposing squadrons into
fragments, killed twenty-two, and took Fairfax's colours
and one hundred horses without losing a single man them-
selves.^ After bivouacing that night in Market Drayton,
the Royalists returned next morning to Shrewsbury un-
molested.

But now a fierce struggle was going on in the south of
the county. When the Civil War broke out, Hopton
CM9e was the property of Henry Wallop, one of the
fiercest of Republicans. NaturaUy it was garrisoned for
the Parliament, but apparently not till February i8th,
1643-4. Samuel More, of Linley, was put in command of
the sixteen men who were first sent to hold it After
repulsing one attack with this handful, he and his
Lieutenant, Major Phillips, sent for reinforcements to
Brampton Brian, but only enough came to make the
garrison thirty-two all told. They had not long to wait
before Sir Lewis Kirke, from Ludlow, began the
investment. His troops soon made a breach in the outer
wall, but OB rushing through, appear to have been caught
N

178 Memorials of Old Shropshire

like rats in a trap between that and the inner one, for
they lost Captain Vaughan, of Burlton, and many others
before they could e£Eect a retreat In a day or two came
three pieces of ordnance, and early the next morning
after their arrival, a summons was sent to the castle that
if More did not surrender before the firing of one gun
he and his men must expect no quarter. A defiant answer
was returned, and the artillery opened fire. The shots
killed one of the garrison, wounded two more, and made
some impression on the walls^ but the attack vriiudi
followed was repulsed with a loss to the besi^^ ci one
slain and three or four hurt, and a much heavier one to
the besiegers. The garrison, too few in number to serve
in reliefs, were at length worn out with fatigue, and
desired Colonel More and Major Phillips to ask for terms
The reply was that the surrender must be unconditional,
for no other would be accepted. To this More at last
agreed, and gave up the castle. But angered, no doubt,
by the obstinate defence of such a small force, thou^
at the same time acting strictly according to military law,
Sir Lewis Kirke ordered all except More to instant
execution. In the Register of Hopton is this entry: —
"Occisi fuere 29 in castro Hoptoniensi, inter quos
Henricus Gregorye, senex," which tells the fate of brave,
if in this instance misguided, men.^

Hopton lost, the Parliament had now only three
garrisons in Shropshire, viz. : Wem, Longford, and Tong.
The Committee, therefore, determined to make an attempt
to take Wellington Church and Apley Castle, both at

1 Col. More ^ does not deny in his account that the surrender was
wholly unconditional, indeed he explained to the garrison of Brampton
Brian, when advising them to surrender, that Sir Lewis Kirke had in no
way broken his pledge. " The custom we hold in warres is to punish,
ana that with death, those who wilfully opinionate themselves to defend
a place which by rules of warre cannot be kept," says an old authority.
This custom was accepted by both sides. In July, 1645, the Parliament
"put to the sword" (i.*., killed in cold blood) the whole (to the number
of seventy) of the Royalist garrison of Canon Frome, Hereford, for presuming
to hold an indefensible position.

•^■.

Shropshire and the Civil War 179

that time held for the King. With this object Mytton
drew out five hundred men frc^n Wem and Longford, and
was successful in both enterprises, for a news-letter
says: — ** CoL Mytton took WeUington Church and Apley
House, having kill'd many, and taken 28 prisoners."

Leaving a strcHig force in the latter place, the main body
were returning to their quarters when a hastily-collected
band of Rojralists from Apley Park (near Bridgnorth),
Benthall, and Shif nal Manor House, suddenly fell upon and
completely routed them, with a loss of Mty-five killed,
including Captain Lyon, and seventy-two prisoners.

News of the loss of Apley Castle, and the plundering
of Mr. Hanmer, its owner, to the amount of ;&i,S00, was
brought to Shrewsbury, and instantly Sir William
Vaughan and Colonel Ellis were ordered out to retake
it On Sunday, March 24th, 1643-4, they got there and
opened such a tempest of cannon shot that in less than
an hour the defenders oflfered to surrender. Their terms
were too high for Colonel Ellis, so he blocked up all the
ways of escape with his cavalry, then led on his musketeers
to the storm, and Apley Castle was soon in his power.
In it were captured ten officers and seventy-three other
prisoners, and a great store of arms, for it had been
Mytton's intention to send a considerable number of
soldiers from Wem to strengthen the garrison he had left
there.

Foiled at Apley, and smarting under defeat, Mytton
determined to try another quarter, so drew out all the forces
he could get from Longford, Tcmg, Wem, and Stafford,
in order to surprise or storm Lilleshall Abbey, then held
for the King by Sir Ridiard Leveson. But Colonel Ellis
and Sir William Vaughan had billeted for the night at
WeDington, and hearing of Mytton's move, sent word to
Lilleshall that Captain Bostock (the officer in command)
should bring out his garrison to join with their troops.
A collision between these united forces and Mytton
occurred near Lilleshall, in which the Royalists were

i8o Memorials of Old Shropshire

completely victorifus,* killing and wounding nearly two
hundred of the enemy, among the^ latter Captain Timothy
Turner, eldest son of the loyal Recorder of Shrewsbury,
and taking prisoner five officers, forty troopers, and many
privates of foot

As soon as Rupert returned from Newark, he
determined to reduce the Parliamentarian garrisons at
Longford and Tong. The first he approached himself, and
so great was the terror of his name that directly his herald
advtooed to the walls with the summons the garrison
opened tl|e gates and surrendered on the Prince's own
terms.

The re-taking of Tong Castle, which had been wredted
from the King in July, 1643, and had been •a great
eye sore to his Maj.* good subjects who pass'd y* road"
ever since, was a longer aJ3Fair. Its reduction was
entrusted to Colonel Tyllier, but he was disturbed in the
siege by a rebel force from Stafford, and apparently had
to withdraw for a time and await reinforcements before
he could succeed This he did on Friday, April 26th,
1644.

A week earlier the castle of Brampton Brian, about
half a mile from the count/s southern border, had
surrendered "at mercy only" to Ludlow's governor. In
the last autumn it had successfully resisted a seven weeks'
investment, Brilliana, Lady Harley, having bravely
defended her home while her husband kept out of harm's
way in London.

These successes encouraged the King's party to make
another attempt on Wem. This time they did not try a
direct assault, but quartered some two thousand troops
in its vicinity to reduce it by starvation. It was, however,
now so strongly fortified, and so well supplied with troops,
ordnance, and provisions, and had such expert soldiers in
Colonel Mytton and his deputy. Major WiUiam Groldegay*
as Commanders, that there seemed no chance of success,

ShrofsAire and the Civil War * i8i

and after a short time the envdofttngf forces i¥ere with-
drawn.

In the beginning of June Prince Rupert was at
Chester, and being short of ammunition sent to Oswestry
for some. Mytton made an attempt to capture the convoy.
Though he failed in his immediate enterprise, he learned
from a prisoner the weakness of the garrison in the latter
towa With him knowledge meant action, and that very
evening, June 20th, he wrote to ask the Earl of Denbigh
for additional men in order to attack Oswestry. Denbigh
at once sent all he could spare from StaiGFoni These
marched through Wem (picking up on the way Mytton's
regiments stationed there) and Ellesmere, and reached
Oswestry by 12 o'clock on Saturday, June 23rd The
cavalry were posted on every road to prevent escape, and
then the infantry proceeded to storm the church, which
stood outside the town walls, and was held as an outpost.
After half-an-hour's fight an entrance was forced, where-
upon the guard fled into the steeple, but were "fetched
down with powder," and twenty-seven prisoners were made.
Then a sacre was brought up, one of the town gates
blown in, and, despite a certain amount of resistance from
those inside, Denbigh entered at the head of his horse.
On this the garrison took refuge in the casttle. An
attempt to fire the castle gates that evening with pi^
proved a failure. Early next morning it was ^ to be
repeated, and as an ofiicer went to perform this duty hc^
was met by a party of women, who fell on their knees
and addressed him piteously in Welsh. Obtaining an
interpreter, he learnt that they prayed that the castle
should not be blown up till they had spoken to their
husbands and children and the officers. Denbigh agreed
to this, and offered mercy if they would surrender. Their
conditions were not of a kind to be acceptable to him, so
be ordered his men to go through with the attack. A
young soldier named Cranage, being " well rewarded and
weD lined with sacke,*' was persuaded to hang a bomb

1 82 Memorials op Old Shropshire

on the castle gate. By creepii^ from house to house he
managed to do so, and the explosion burst it open. There-
upon the garrison at once agreed to surrender on a promise
of th^ir lives only.

The Royalists lost no time in attempting to retake
. their lost fortress Sir Fulke Hunkes» Governor of
Sly^wsbury, and Colonel Marrow, Deputy Governor of
Chester, marched out with a considerable army, but
traitors gave woid to Colonel Mytton of its aj^roach. He
at once sent despatch riders to Sir Thomas Middleton for
aid Hunkes, pressing the siege vigorously, had re-
captured the church before news reached him diat
Middleton, by forced marches^ was drawing near with a
large army. Marrow was thereupon ordered to intercept
his advance at Whittington. Here the battle was bravdy
contested on both sides. "Three several times the skir-
mish was doubtful, each side being forced so often to
retreat," reported Middleton himself. But his rearguard
of foot at length came upon the scene of conflict, and
turned the Royalists into hasty flight Pursued to Felton
Heath, their line of retreat was marked by arms, clothes,
and provisions thrown aside to lighten their steeds for
speedier pace.

On news of this disaster, Hunkes, to save his guns,
ordered a retirement to Shrewsbury, and succeeded in
reaching that town with slight loss. Denbigh on his part
determined to push home this success, and ordering a
general rendezvous on Knockin Heath, the next day
" made a trial of Shrewsbury." Forcing the passage over
Montford Bridge, and driving back its guard, he and
Mytton got as far as the fort at Frankwell, but they found
the outworks well defended, and when Colonel Marrow
made a spirited sally with the remnant of his cavalry, were
compelled to retreat with some loss.

On the very day of Hunkes* discomfiture at Oswestry
the King's cause in the north was utterly ruined at
Marston Moor, and Prince Rupert, who had drawn out

Shropshire and the Civil War 183

all the troops he could get from Shropshire (thereby
weakening every garrison), was completely defeated

The next few months of 1644 saw many skirmishes
between the contending forces^ in which the King's troops
generally came off second best For instance, in August,
Prince Rupert's own rq^iment of horse was surprised and ,.
cut up at Welshpool by Colonel Mytton from Oswestty,
and in September the King's army (mainly picked troops
drawn from Shrewsbury and Ludlow) were routed at
Montgomery with a loss of 500 killed and between 1,20a
and 1,500 prisoners.^

A new officer now came into Shropshire to help the *
Parliamentary Committee — ^Lieut-Col Reinkling, pro-
bably a foreign soldier of fortune — and henceforth
whenever there was any desperate enterprise to be under-
taken, or a forlorn hope to be led, we always read of
hiih in the front rank.

Keeping an eye ever on Shrewsbury, the Committee
considered the first step must be the capture of Moreton
Corbet Castle. So on September loth they entrusted the
attempt to Lieut-Colonel Reinkling from Wem and Lord
Calvin from Stoke-on-Tem. A night attack was agreed
upon. Reaching their destination at about i.o a.m., they
posted their drummers a field's distance from the house
with orders to sound the march as soon as the assault
began ; then Reinkling in a loud voice pretended to post
such a regiment in one place and such a regiment in ^ .
another, thus making the garrison believe that a very
large force had come against them. Then the reabattack
b^fan. The Lieut -Colonel and four men managed to
force a way in through a window. Those inside, misled

IThe terrible tlaogliter at the battle of Montgomery made a de^
impretsioD od the minds of the conntry folk, who lot years beliered thaP
the ghosts of the dead hannted the oattle-field. In the Diary of the
Rer. Philip Henry we read: — ^'*i66i. Dec. 30 near Montgomery about
Snnsett was seen by several p*sont a compleat body of horse marchiag
two on a breast between 500 and 1000 in ye Road bat no sign thereof
▼itible upon ye ground the next morning : affirm'd upon Oath.^'

|| MmoRiALs OF Old Shropshire

by the darkness, and thinking that a large ntimber had
cotcred, instantly called for quarter, and before they
di^overed their mistake and attacked the gallant &¥e,
many more had come in. When morning dawned Reink-
ling and Calvin perceived how strongly the house was
forti6ed» and declared they would never have attempted
an assault if it had been daytime. Colonel Fenwicke was
appointed Governor for the Parliament, and a little later
" therein manfully withstood a sharp assault " of the
Shrewsbury Royalists.

Prince Rupert, the nominal Commander*in-Chief, being
so often absent from the county, Sir William Vaughan
(who had been educated at Shrewsbury School and had
seen much service in Ireland) was about this time made
General of Shropshire. His troops were principally
Anglo-Irish, whom he quartered at Shrawardine, Caus«
^High Ercall. Lilleshall, and Dawley, now depleted of
their former defenders by the Prince for service elsewhere
Shrawardine was chosen by Vaughan for headquarters^
and by his energy he earned among his enemies th^^i
soubriquet of the " Devil of Shrawardine." ^^H

Mytton at Wem determined, if possible, to curb tli^^^
activity as soon as he could, and hearing that it was his
custom to attend the Holy Communion at the church
outside the castle, came with a party of horse on Sunday.
October 17th, and surprised Sir William and several other
officers on their knees. Seizing him, Mytton declared be
would shoot him with his own hand unless he instantly
ordered the castle to be surrendered As for dying, replied
Vaughan, they could never 6nd him better prepared; as
for surrendering the castle, it was not in his power, for
his (ieputy governor was now in command Mytton. how*
ever, ordered him to be brought before the castle, and
drawing a pistol threatened to shoot him dead in sight
of the garrison unless they instantly opened the gates
But Vaughan, with a violent effort, wrenched himself free
from his captors, and rushed towards the drawbridge

Shropshire and the Civil War 185

shouting " shoot" His men thereupon opened such a hot
fire from the walls that no pursuit was possible/ though
many muskets and pistols were discharged after him. Then
the tables were turned, for a sally being made, Mytton
lost five killed and nine taken before he could make good
a retreat

A similar Sunday arrest had taken place only a week
before at Chirbury. The Vicar there, a man of pro-
nounced Puritan opinions, on the taking of Montgomery
Castle by his party in September, had begun the habit
of preaching two disloyal sermons each Sunday. Captain
Pelham Corbet, of Caus Castle, was content to look on
as long as it was only one, but two were more than he
could bear. He therefore sent a troop of horse, who,
arresting the preacher in his pulpit, brought him prisoner
to Caus ; " and so," says the Chronicler, *' the people were
left without their pastor, to be without any sermon because
they had not been ccmtent with one a day." *

The month of January, 1644-5, saw a new Commander-
in-Chief for Shropshire in Prince Maurice, Rupert's
brother, but far inferior to him in ability. He found the
King^s cause in very low condition, and all the attempt!
of his commission of array futile in raising fresh forces.
At this time there were in the neighbourhood of Clim
and Bishops Castle more than one thousand men in arms,
''standing out against both sides, neither for the King
nor for the Parliament, but only upon their own guard
for the preservation of their lives and fortunes." These
resolutely declined to take any part with the Prince. All

1 Sunday arrests seem to have been the usual thing in the case of
loyal ministers; r./.. Parliamentary "soldiers both horse and foot came
upon the Lord's day from Nantwich to Whitchurch thinking to find the
Rer. Thomas Orpe at church in the morning service, but missed him."
William Hoi way, afterwards, at Middle, "was siezed on in the time of
service by some fellows who presented their pistols at him and tarried
him away." "Laurence Seddon, Rector of Worthen, was draggedl uot
of his pulpit and sent a prisoner to Shrewsbury, where he continued till
the Royahst party made a reprisal of a Factious preacher, for whom he
was exchanged." So Capt Cforbet was only following the custom of the
other side.

i86 Memorials of Old Shropshire

efforts, also, to call out the posse comUatus of the county
were useless The garrison, too, of Shrewsbury, was in
a state of mutiny, having received no pay for a long time.
This latter state of affairs was well known to the Com-
mittee, who were only waiting for a convenient opp(»tunity
to take the towa

Colonel Mytton's first attempt was on Saturday,
February 8th, when he attacked the fort at Frankwell as
the townsfolk were busy at market, but was repulsed
with loss.

A few days later. Sir John Price, Governor of Mont-
gomery Castle, hearing that the King^s Ccnnmission for
raising forces in Shropshire was sitting at Hintoo, near
Pontesbury, sent a flying column thither, captured the
whole of them to the number of fifteen ^duding
Sir F. Ottley,! the Royalist High Sheriff, Richard Fowler,
of Hamagfe, and Roger Owen), and brought them to
Montgomery.

A similar column was also, about February i6th,
despatched from Wem to Apley Park, Bridgnorth, where
Sir William Whitmore and his son Sir Thomas, with
** divers other gentlemen of quality, and about 60 common
soldiers," were surprised, and conveyed to Wem without
interference, so secretly was the affair carried out

In the meantime, Prince Maurice (who had reached
his command on February 5th), thinking that after the
repulse at Frankwell it would be safe to draw out a
considerable part of the garrison to accompany him to
Chester, did so on February 14th. His movements were
well known through the instrumentality of the traitors in
Shrewsbury, and the very evening after his departure
Lieutenant-Colonel Reinkling, with Colonels Mytton,

1 The Perfect Passages of Feb. 19th to Feb. 25th, 1644-5, ^as a some-
what scurrilous description of this officer :"Sif Francis Oately that wis
the Governor of Shrewsbury and for his disservice to the Parliament made
a knight since these warres, but of old was for his red-nos«, and love to
the pot known by the name of the Alc-conner.

Shropshire and the Civil War 187

Hunt, and Lloyd, and Captain Clive, marched from Wem
to the attack. The nig^t, however, proved so dark that,
missing their way at the Okl Heath, they proceeded
towards Pimley and Atcham Bridge, and only foimd out
their mistake when they had got too far to return to the
attack on the town itself. Reinkling made the best of
the situation, and took possessicm of the Bridge, and
captured its garrison stationed in the church close by.

In no way disconcerted, the Committee determined
on a third attempt Elaborate arrangements were drawn
up. Reinkling was again to be in supreme command;
two thousand pounds were promised to the forces from
Staffordshire and Cheshire, and a like sum to those of
Shropshire, soldiers from the garrisons of Wem, Moreton
Corbet, and Stoke-on-Tem, with special rewards for
special acts of bravery; but if any soldier was guilty
of plundering, he should lose his reward and be tried
for his life by martial law.

The date fixed was Friday, February 21st, 1644-45,
on which day they set out on their march in the evening,
and, despite cold and darkness, reached Shrewsbury about
four o'clock in the momii^. Reinkling, with a small body
of musketeers and some carpenters, obtained boats and
rowed up the river to the palisades under the Castle.
These they found already broken through from inside.
For Mytton, in his Despatch, writes: "Mr. Huson, a
minister which came out of Ireland with the enemy, and
some three months since came from them to us^ and
Captain Willier likewise that came from the enemy about
a month before, took axes and sledges and brake down
the palisades and made way for our firelocks to enter."
These two told the password and then guided Reinkling^s
musketeers and some dismounted troopers of Lieutenant
Benbow under the Council House — ^residence of Sir
William Owen — and into the town. The gate at Castle
Foregate was opened, and the rest of the army entered.
There was a skirmish in the Market Place, where the

1 88 Memorials of Old Shropshire

main guard made some resistance and killed two of
Mytton's horses, but surrendered on the fall of their
captaia The Castle held out for a few hours after the
taking of the town itself, but then capitulated on the
cowardly conditions that the English soldiers should
leave their arms and have passes to Ludlow, but the
Irish should " looke thorow a Hempen window '* (U., be
hailed). "Which," reported Mytton, "is performed"^
The men in the fort at Frankwell continued to resist till
the evening, and then surrendered " upon bare quarter of
their lives." Though the Committee did their best to
prevent pillage, at least as far as well-wishers to their
cause were concerned, several tradesmen were ruined by
the destruction of their goods. Very little blood was
shed, the casualty list of killed being Captain Needham
and five Royalist soldiers, with only two of Mytton's men
The prisoners comprised eight baronets and knights,
forty officers, two hundred soldiers (including many Irish),
fifteen guns, two thousand stands of arms, one hundred
barrels of powder, and money and plate to the value of
forty thousand p)ounds, with a considerable quantity of
other goods and treasure sent there for safety. Captain
Crowe, Commandant of the Castle, managed to escape to
Gloucester, where, however, he was put on trial and
hanged, either for treachery or cowardice.

While Lancashire is still proud of Latham House and
the Countess of Derby, Hereford of Brampton Brian and
Lady Harley, and the Isle of Wight of Carisbrook Castle
and the Countess of Portland, it seems that Shropshire
also had its heroic lady commander, for Rowton Castle
is said to have been gallantly defended by Lady Lister
for a fortnight after her husband had been captured at
the taking of Shrewsbury, till Mytton gave her honourable
terms of surrender.*

1 Gough (p. 41) and Clarendon (vol. ii., pt. ii. p. 818) tell the story
of Rupert's retaliation, but there is no room to give it here.

* TTie late Rev. G. W. Fisher, Annals of Shrewsbury Scfu^ol^ p. 153.

Shropshire and the Civil War 189

The loss of Shrewsbury was the greatest blow which
had yet fallen on the Royal cause in Shropshire, and one
immediate result was that Prince Maurice felt compelled
to withdraw the soldiers from most of the smaller
garrisons. Among others, he abandoned and rendered
incapable of defence the castles of Broncroft, Holgate^
Rouse,^ and Tong, with Lea Hall and Madeley House.
Moreton Corbet Castle was at the same time dismantled
by the Committee lest it should be seized again by the
King's party, and because, with the county town in their
hands, it was of no further use to them.

As a small set off against all these disasters, the
Royalists won a victory on March i8th at Knockin Heath»
where Sir Edmund Cary defeated a strong party of horse
and foot under Sir Thomas Middleton, whose loss in killed
included a major, a lieutenant, a comet, and many common
soldiers ; in prisoners, two captains and twenty-eight
privates. They were also successful at High ErcalL

Encouraged by the capture of Shrewsbury, the
Parliamentarians made a determined attempt on the
manor-house of Lord Newport, at Ercall, and suffered an
undoubted repulse ; for after Middleton had besieged it
for seventeen days (for four of which he [Jayed upon it
unceasingly with his great guns), and had made five
assaults on the works, the besieged, under Sir Vincent
Corbet, CoL Thomas Corbet, and Capt Armourer, the
Governor, made a sally, captured their ordnance — ^" three
great pieces and a mortar piece," and inflicted such loss in
killed and wounded that the assailants retired precipitately.

Ludlow was attacked on April 24th by Colonel Birch,
Governor of Hereford, but he, as Sir William Waller
before him, found the place too strong to carry by storm»
and after a short attempted siege thought it wiser to
retire than wait for Princes Rupert and Maurice, who
were advancing to the town's relief with all their avail-
able forces.

1 I have been unable to identify and locate this Castle of Rouse.

igo Memorials op Old ShbopIhikb

In May Charles L paid a hurried visit to the ooaity
on his way from his winter quartets at Oxfbcd to Cbesta^
with about ii,ooo mea On Saturday* the i/tfa, he
maidied through Toog and Newport to Chetwyndp wiieie
he stayed till Tuesday. Thence he journeyed to Ifarioet
Drayton. During the hah here an attempt was made
under General Langdale to surprise Wem, at that dale
slenderty garrisoned* but it resulted in total failure* owing
to tardy marching. On Thursday the Royal army left
the county on the road which ended on June 14th in the
oomjdete reverse at Nasel^.

News of this total defeat reaching die Committee for
Suopshire, they began to bestir themselves* and to
attempt at once the reduction of the smaller royal
garrisons. With this intent Lieut-Colonel RdnHing and
Colonel Mackworth, with 800 men* were despatched sodth-
ward to capture Stokesay, then held for the King, and to
repair and re-fortify Broncroft* slighted by Maurice after
the fall of Shrewsbury, and so to cut off Ludlow from the
rich dales of Stretton and Corve* and starve out the town
which Waller and Birch had failed to take. In both these
purposes they were successful* de^ite the attack of a large
force under Sir Lewis Kirke, Governor of Ludlow* who
was defeated at Norton, near Stokesay, with the loss of
four pieces of ordnance, 4CX) stand of arms, and 300
prisoners.

While all this was being enacted in the south, Colonel
Hunt, from Shrewsbury, marched against Cans Castle, and
after an investment of twelve days compelled it to
capitulate on June 23rd Then he turned his attention to
Shrawardine Castle, which, on June 29di» "was cowardly
surrendered up to the Parliament forces under the com-
mand of Colonel Hunt, Colonel Lloyd, and Mr. Charlton,
after five dayes seige." *

Elated by these successes, a second attempt was made
on Hi^h Ercall Manor House, but again disaster followed,

I ShnwMndinc Rcgiitef.

Shrofshi&e and the Civil War 191

for Sir William Vaughan (smarting no doubt under the
loss of Shrawardine, taken while he was away with the
King) made a sudden onslaught on the besiegers' lines,
killed about 100, took nearly 400 prisoners, including
Colonel Rcinkling, with all the baggage, and totally routed
the rest

In July Lieut-General Cromwell himself paid a flying
visit to Shropshire, and while *' viewing ye town of
Bridgnorth," had a very narrow escape of his life; for
on Friday, the nth, as he sat on horseback talking with
a comet of his regiment, the latter was struck by a brace
of musket balls and mortally wounded^ Even under this
General's direction the investment was not pressed home,
for the besi^^ing troops were withdrawn when the news
arrived that the King was marching towards North Wales
with a considerable army in order to relieve Chester. He
reached Ludlow on August 7th, where he tried, but in
vain, to raise fresh forces : the country had grown weary
of war. The next day he proceeded to Bridgnorth, whidi
town he left on the loth for Lichfield

Directly he had gone the Parliamentary Committee
ordered an attack on Lilleshall, which was taken after a
short siege by soldiers under Major Braine. Then the
garrison of Dawley Castle in despair evacuated and dis-
mantled their chai^^e, and retired to Hi^ ErcalL

To illustrate the recent successes of the Parliament, we
will quote from the Perfect Occurrences of Friday, August
30th, to Friday, August 27th, 1645 : —

A lyst of the Gtrrisont Uken by the Shropshire Committee since they
first took the field :— Oswestry Castle, Shrmwmrdine Castle, Rowton Castle,
Cans Castle, Lee Hoose, Stoaksay, Broncroft, BeDthall, Bnildwat,
Maydley, Tong Castle, Lalpey [t .«., Lapley, co. SUfford], Dawley, Ltlles-
liall, Morton Corbet, Albright Hossey, Atcham Bridge, Longner House,
Kocksaher [f.«., Wrozeter], Shrewsbtiry. Twenty Garrisons they ha^v

1 This is the only authentic Tisit the great Protector f>aid to Shropshire
dnnng the First Civil War, though k>cal tradition connects him with
imivnerable places in the coonty, especially in reference to the injniy
or destruction of churches, castles, and manor houses.

•
ft

192 ^ Memorials of Old Shropshiee

til asd bit from the Kmg with those two of LUlciktli mni B«^taf-^»

v^ich tkqr took kat wMk. « ^^ w^ «>-^ j^ pntow

%Hui L«dlow» Bri40Mt& u4 H%pi XicoS.

His Majesty was soon agBin in StuopsUm taw
retreatiiig: South after Us total defeat at BammaVj^A,
near Cherter, on Sqylendier a^tti, he readied - Hfi i^ fc i W H^I
on die 30^ tn^ ooly^ stayed two day^ and* fhcsn sMiied
on to lAcMuUL A Ibctn^fj^ farter he made iqp his aoinl
to sanendcr to the Soots.

After this tiie Royal cause was hopdesa. Thmi^
Lord Asteky and Sir William Vang^ian tried haid to
collect a fresh army, ^bcy foond it inqioisibie^ mod ofer«
taken by Sir William Breteton at Stow4ii4fae-Wdyi
Gloucestershire, they suffered a disastrous defeat, aad
the last force which remained to the King was scattered

The three Royal garrisons in Shropshire hdd out a
little longer, but High Email, battered for nine hours
without intermission by great shot and grenadoes, sur-
rendered on fair terms on March 27th, 1646.
« Then no time was lost in storming Bridgnorth. The
day after High Ercall fell, a strong brigade was de^Mtched
thither from Shrewsbury. Failing in an attempted
surprise, the town was assaulted in three divisions. 'Each
met with a determined resistance, but Colonel Francis
Billingsley, of the Trained Bands, being killed in
St Leonard's Churchyard, the Royalists were at length
forced back into the castle. This they managed to hold
for three weeks, despite a continued bombardmept, for
the enemy's cannon, though playing furiou^ against its
walls, codd make no breach or considerable impression.
To return the fire the garrison planted great guns upon
the tower of St Mary Magdalene's Church (which, beii^
high, commanded all the enem/s works^L and by this
battery inflicted great loss, on one occasion tjie artillery- *
men in the tower sending a lucky shot right into the mouth
of one of the opposing caimon, which not only burst
the piece, but killed its gunner and six or seven of nis

Shrotshire and the Civil War 193

men by the explosion. Understanding, however, that the
castle magazine was in the chancel of this church, the
besiegers b^^ to run a sap through the rock, and carried
it within a few paces of the ammunition.^ In danger,
therefore, of being blown up. Sir Robert Howard, the
Governor, agreed to honourable conditions on April 24th,
1646. Among the commanders in the garrison were Sir
Vincent Corbet, Sir Edward Acton, and Sir Francis
Ottley, who were allowed to keep their arms, baggage,
and horses. All the other officers and men received
similar liberal terms, vdth the exception of Mr. Edward
Latham, Colonel Billingsle/s father-in-law, who "must
deliver himself up to the mercy of the Parliament''

Ludlow, the last of the King^s garrisons in Shropshire,
kept its colours flying for another month, though closely
invested by Colonel Birch from Hereford, and Colonel
Mackworth from Shrewsbury, who, despairing of capture
by assault, made tempting offers and bribes to certain
members of the garrison to induce their comrades to
surrender. And tKis was effected on June ist, 1646.

With the fall of Ludlow, the first Civil War was at
an end as far as this county was concerned, and all that
remained was to count up the losses it had occasioned.

It is impossible to say how many Salopians laid down
their lives in the struggle. Gough says that of the twenty
from Middle who enlisted in the Royal army thirteen were
killed; probably a higher proportion than in other
viUages> yet each of them, no doubt, furnished its quota
to the grim list of slain.

Of castles and manor houses numbers were in ruins,
Shrawardine, Caus, Rowton, and Bridgnorth utterly des-
troyed Of churches, Clun, Bishops Castle, Benthall,
Stokesay, Shrawardine, and St Leonard's, Bridgnorth, had
been practically demolished; High Ercall, Loj^ington,
Oswestry, Wellington, the Abbey, Shrewsbury, and many
others greatly damaged.

I This mine is still to be seen, and Is now called Levlngston's Hole.
O

194 Memorials of Old Shropshire

Various estates changed hands. Sir Vincent Corbet
was so impoverished by the fines imposed by Parliament
that he was compelled to sell his property at Moreton
Corbet and Preston Brockhurst ; his cousin, also Vincent
Corbet, to surrender Humphreston (in the early days of
the war garrisoned for the King) to Edmuxxi Waring, the
Anabaptist Hi|^ Sheriff and Governor of Shrewsbury;
John Heylin to part with Alderton, purchased by die
stror^ Parliamentarian, John Wingfield, and so on through
the county. ^^46,631 14s 8d is given as the total at vMdi
the estates of Shropshire Royalists were compounded for,
with annual payments of £ggQ in additioiL

In the second Civil War of 1648, in the campaign of
165 1 (which culminated in Cromwell's "crowning mercy
at Worcester " axxl the flight of Charles IL to Boscobel), in
the rising of 1655, and in that of 1659, Shropshire men
took their full share in the vain attempts to g^ve the King
his own again. And nowhere was the Restoration more
welcome than in this cotmty, when, as the Rector of
Shrawardine entered in his Church Register: —

l66a 29 May, Hit Gncioas Majesty, our dread Sovereign King Oiarles
the Second, came to London attended with the greatest part of die
Nobilitie and Gentrye of the land, where with all demonstrations of }€j
he was welcomed and received. Never was more cordial love and honoiir
showed to any King than was to this exiled prince at his reception into the
kingdom in all places.

John Ernest Auden.

OLD SHROPSHIRE FAMILIES
CHANGES IN LAND OWNERSHIP^

By Stanley Leighton» M.P., F.S.A.

lEMPORA mutantur nos et mutamur in illis."
Four hundred years ago, towards the close of
the Feudal period, when Leland wrote his
Itinerary, red deer and roe were running
wild over the Forest of Clun. On the slopes of the
Stiperstones range, before modem miners had recom-
menced the work of their Roman predecessors, Hockstow
deer-forest extended right up to Caus Castle. The
antlers found in the meres round Baschurch and EUesmere
show the presence of red deer in North Shropshire also.
What was the population of the county in the Feudal
period we cannot accurately ascertain, but the inhabitants
of the Border country were not scattered, as now, broadcast
over the land, but were gathered together for protection in
the walled towns or in villages which nestled under the
battlements of castles. Few were the outlying residences,
and these were usually surrounded by a moat Contrasting
with the wildness of the surrounding scenery (for there

1 This chapter was originallj read before the Royal Archcologicml
InstitQte of Great Britain and Ireland at (heir meeting in Shrewtburf
in 1894, on which occasion its author was President of one of the sections.
Mr. Stanley Leighton was pre-eminently qnslified to speak on the subject
h deals with, not only by his position in the county, but by the special
attention he had for many years devoted to that branch of Salopian
antiquities. The chapter is now in the main reprinted from the
Transactions of the SkrofsMrt Areka^ogUal Society^ to which, after its
delivery, he contributed it in a revised form; but for the purpose of
reprinting, it has been a^n edited and brought up to date by his
daughter. Miss Rachel Leighton, who has herself devoted consideralrfe
attention to the subject.— 'T.A.

'95

196

Memorials of Old Shropshire

was then no model farming) some forty or fifty castles
gave point to the landscape, some of them well built, and
covering several acres in extent, but more imposing Aan
the strongholds of the landowners in scale and statdiness
were the abbeys of the religious orders, oi wkadt
Shropshire had her fair proportion. Eyton gives tlie
following list of Shropshire castles: —

Albcrbury.

Kinnerley.

ShrawAidine.

Bishop's Castle.

Knockin.

Shrewilmrj.

Bridgnorth.

Ludlow.

Snead.

Carrechova.

Middle.

StrettOD.

Caus.

Oswestry.

Wattletborongii.

Cleobury Mortimer.

Pulvcrbatch.

Wem.

Corfham.

Quatford.

Whitchurch.

Ellesmere.

Red Castle.

Whittington.

Holgate.

Ruyton-XI.-Towns.

Modern research has also revealed the existence of a

stronghold at Hodnet

The castellated mansions mentioned by Eyton are:—

Acton Burnell.

Dawlcy.

Stokesay.

Aplcy.

Hopton.

Tirley.

Brace Meole.

Longnor.

Withyford.

Charlton.

Morcton Corbet.

Wroxeter.

Chcswardine.

The Religious houses, as given in Stevens' Continua-
tion of Dugdale*s Monasticon, were : —

Shrewsbury Abbey — Benedictine. Buildwas — Cistercian.

Wenlock Priory — Cluniac. Chirbury — ^Augustiniain.

Halesowen — Pracmonstratensian. Wombridge — Augustinian.

Haughmond — Augustinian. Brewood (VHiiteladies) — Cisterdia.
Lilleshall — Augustinian.

To which may be added Alberbury, suppressed by
Henry VI. as an alien Priory of the Grandmontensian
Order, and the Houses of the Knights of St. John at
Halston and Lydley Heys. The Abbots of Shrewsbury,
Lilleshall, and Haughmond were summoned to the House
of Peers from time to time.

The nett income of the religious houses at the

Changes in Land Ownership 197

Dissolution varied from the £532 of Shrewsbury ^bbey
to the £17 of the Convent of Whiteladles.

An honest study of what remains to us of the past
helps us to observe the continuity of change, both in the
outward appearance of the land and the personality of
its inhabitants. The Abbeys and Priories of Shropshire
just mentioned, the houses of the military orders, and a
number of Friaries, are all gone. The forty castles of
Shropshire are all gone as residences of importance. I
can only recall three or four which have a vestige of
roof left upon their walls. Stokesay is a beautiful but ^
dismantled shell Shrewsbury Castle, of which Leland
said " it hath been a strong thinge, but is now much in
ruin," suffered still further disfigurement in the beginning
of the nineteenth century at the hands of Laura,
Countess of Bath, and her architect Telford, the
famous road engineer. Wattlesborough is used as
a farmhouse, and its square Norman tower is covered
with a modem roof. Apley Castle is used as a stable,
and little but the foundation is left Broncroft has
been modernised. Of the four walled towns of
Shropshire — Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth, Ludlow and Oswes-
try— only a few vestiges of gate or wall can be traced.
The original owners have passed away with their
castles. Compare the feudal baronage of Shropshire with
its modem peerage: Fitzalan, Audeley, Boteler, Bumel,
Charlton de Powys, Corbet of Caus, Fitz-Herbert, Fitz-
Warin, Lacy, Mortimer, Pantulf, Say, Stafford, Strange,
Montgomery. All these once famous names are unfamiliar
now. Of the Peerage of Shropshire in the reign of
Henry VIII., the Dukedom of Buckingham became extinct
in 1521, and the Barony of Stafford in 1637. The
Fitzalan Earls of Arundel became extinct in the male
line in 1580. The Barons Grey de Powis died out in
1552; the Baronies of Talbot, Fumival, and Strange of
Blackmere, fell into abeyance between three daughters
and co-heirs in i6i6b and only a small portion of the

198 Memorials of Old Shropshire

Shropshire estates remained atbiched afterwards to the
Earldom of Shrewsbury. Of the Peerage of Shropshire
in the reign of George I., the line of the Newports^ Earls
of Bradford, became extinct in 1762, and that of the
Herberts, Marquises of Powis, in 1748 ; of the Pierpoints,
Dukes of Kingston, in 1773 ; and of the Talbots, Dukes
of Shrewsbury, in 1718, when the Earldom reverted to a
kinsman.

When Noel Hill, the eldest son of Thomas Harwood,
was created Lord Berwick of Attingham in 1784, he was
the only resident peer in the county. There were, indeed,
two Irish peers — ^Kilmorey and Clive, but, as far as I
know, no resident Engli^ peer, unless Earl Gower of
Lilleshall be counted

In the reign of Queen Victoria the peerage of
Shropshire included: —

Noel Hill of Attingham — ^Baron Berwick, created 1784.

Clive. — Irish Barony of Clive, created 1762 ; Baron

Herbert, created 1794; and Earl of Powis, created

1804.

Bridgeman. — Created Baron 1794, Earl of Bradford

1815.
Hill of Hawkestone. — Created Baron 18 16, Viscount

1842.
Forester. — Created Baron 1821.

Wilson, Baroness Bemers. — Barony called out of abey-
ance 1832.
Lawley. — Baron Wenlock, created 1839.
Windsor Clive. — Barony called out of abeyance 1855

(created Earl of Plymouth 1905).
Hamilton Russell. — ^Viscount Boyne, Baron Brancepeth

created 1866.
Actoa — Baron created 1869.
Gore. — Baron Harlech created 1876.
Hill-Trevor. — Baron Trevor created i88a
Lowry-Corry. — Baron Rowton, created 1880 (extinct
1904).

Changes in Land Ownership 199

The following Peers have land in Shropshire, but are
not resident: —

The Earl of Shrewsbury. Duke of Sutherland

Earl of Tankerville. Marquis of Bath.

Earl Brownlow. Lord Barnard.

' Duke of Norfolk. Lord Kenyon.

Earl Craven. Lord Stafford.
Earl of Dartmouth.

From these Usts it may be observed how short has
been the family tenure of hereditary tank.

But ruins and dismantled houses each have their own
story to tell, which will generally repay the trouble of
discovery. Stokesay points to the rise of comme r ce one
of the powerful factors in England's greatness. Its
builder was Laurence, a clothier of Ludlow, who erected
this charming castellated mansion in 129a " It was not,''
says Eyton, "till the reign of Edward I. that mercantile
wealth could readily be exchanged for territorial impor-
tance." After passing by heirship to the Vemons,
Stokesay again fell into mercantile hands, and was
purchased in the reign of Elizabeth or James I. by the
aldermanic family of Craven, who sold it about 1870,
again ior money made in business, to the family of
AUcroft, its present owners. In feudal, as well as in
modem, times wealth often came through heiresses, and
there are few families with large possessions which do
not owe much to female inheritance — a fact which, I
suppose, in^ired the old punning leg^ rhyme:

Fee simple, simple fee.

And all the fees ia tail.
Are nothing when compared with thee.

Thou best of Fees, Fe(e)male.

Whether the duties and the dangers of feudal
superiority brotight its possessors more quickly to
extinction than the conditions of modem pre-eminence
is a problem worthy of consideration. Special advantages,

whedier social, political, pecuniary, or literary, se^S"
pcsriloQS Uk the envied owners. Eyton concludes a notice
of tiie Fitealans with these words : " Having now given
aibooiint of eight successive representatives of Alan
FitzFlaadp this retrospective observation suggests itself.
viz.i that not one of these eight Fitxalans attained the
a^ of sixty years; only two passed the age of &fty;
three died between forty and M ty ; one between thirty
and forfy; and two others died under thirty/' The fate
of the Staffords, who inherited Caus Castle from the
CofbetSi and, having inter-married with the Plaotagcnets,
stepped into the highest grade of nobility, is equally in-
structive. In the second generation Edmund, the Hth Earl*
having succeeded a brother who was murdered, and two
other brothers who died diildless, was himself kiOed at
the battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. His son, who was made
Duke of Buckingham, was slain at Northampton in 146a
His son was slain at St Albans His son was beheaded
at Salisbury in 1483, and his son was beheaded on Tower
Hill in 1 52 1. The Royal House of England for the last
eight centuries has been represented by seven famihes,
but never during all that time by a purely English dynasty
in the male Une. The Conqueror William was a Norman ;
Stephen, a Frenchman; Henry II., an Angevin or
Plantagenet; Henry VIL, a Welshman or Tudor;
James I., a Scotchman or Stuart; William nL» a
Dutchman of the House of Orange ; George I., a Guelfdii
or Hanoverian; and the present King represents the
distinguished German house of Coburg.

The feudal scheme of society, the outgrowth of
surrounding circumstances rather than oi settled policy»
linked enormous duties with corresponding position.
Recognised and customary obligations, whidb could not
easily or safely be avoided, appertained to the ownership
of land, almost the only form in which at that time wealth
could be capitalised There is danger to any state when
the conditions of political service dissociate property from

Changes in Land Ownership 201

public responsibilities. In old England the Castle
represented military duty; the Abbey represented
religious, educational, and civil obligations; the Towns,
with their exclusive guilds and chartered privileges, were
the guardians of municipal government and the protectors
of trade. The custom of primc^eniture, economical in
its primary idea, is democratic in its direct consequences
While the eldest son of a baronial house was endowed
with the land, almost to the exclusion of his brethren,
he was at the same time laden with specific military
and civil responsibilities. The cadets of the house, equally
noble in blood, btit according to our English custom
simply commoners, were obliged by the necessities of
their position to seek a livelihood in trades or professions.
There was no caste, and as the ranks of the barons and
knights were ever and anon recruited from the professional
and mercantile classes, so the trades and professions were
as often recruited from the younger sons of the nobility.
In the great Council of the nation the bishops and abbots
were life peers, as nimierous and influential as the heredi-
tary nobility, and they were summoned by a similar
writ Whether a simimons was regarded as a burden or
a privilege is not quite clear, nor is it certain by what
means an ecclesiastical or lay peer could assert his right
if he failed to receive his summons. Certain it is that
the abbots of many religious houses, as well as the owners
of land by baronial tenure, were sometimes summoned
and sometimes passed over. The lesser landowners were
represented by knights of the shire in the House of
Commons, and the citizens of the town by burgesses.
Shropshire returned two knights of the shire, and Shrews-
bury and Bridgnorth two biu^esses each from 1295. In
1472 Ludlow was made a Parliamentary Borough,
Wenlock in 1478. Bishop's Castle in 1585, so that the
county returned in all twelve members to Parliament,
instead of its present quota of five. What a shrinkage of
relative importance in the council of the nation!

202 Memorials of Old Shropshire

It will be remembered that the ddimitation of the
boundary between England and Wales was not finally
completed till the twenty-eighth year of Henry VIII. A
statute passed in 1537 introduced the shire system into
what are now the counties of Brecknock, Radnor,
Montgomery, Denbigh, and Flint The parishes of
Ellesmere, Oswestry, Chirbury, Clun, and others, were
definitely appropriated to Shropshire. I give here some
extracts from Leland's Itinerary:

Limitet of Shropshire

Blakemere a Terj Urge parke nye to WhitewChirchey ]f* (u I k**»
harde lay) yn warn parte a Umet betwixte Shropshire and QMileiihinL la
the Parke is a £ur Maner Place.

MoDkfaridge, a Mile beneth Tembyri is (as I her herd say) m fimn Id
Wicesterihire, Shropshire, and Herefordshire. ^

Under "Montgomeryshire," Leland writes:

Clune Castdl longynge to the Erie of Arundel, somewhat mtDoas.
It hath been both stronge and well builded. Clune was a lordship
marched by itself afore the new Acte. By Clune is a great Forest of
redde Dere and Roois longinge to the Lord of Arundell, and standi^ge
in the Lordshipe of Temecetre, thrwghe the whiche Teme Ryver can-
methe longinge also to the Lord of Arundle. All Chirbyri Hundred fay ^
new Acte is adjecte to Shrobbshire. It apperithe in the Acte what
Lordshippes be adjoyncd to the V new Shires.

I may note here that the Castle of Clun has been
purchased by the present Duke of Norfolk, and thus a
descendant of the famous Shropshire family of Fitzalan.
and the holder of the feudal barony of Clim and
Oswaldstree, is again a Shropshire landowner.

Leland gives a list of twenty-nine Shropshire land-
owners in his day, and in twenty cases he adds an
estimate of their incomes:

Sir John Talbot, of Albrighton Park.

Corbet of Moreton Corbet, 800 mcrk of land =jf 520.

Corbet of Lee, 100 mcrks»;f66.

Corbet of Longnor, ;f 40.

Sir John Mainwaring, of Ightfield.

John Dodd, of Cloverley, 100 merk«;^66.

Changes in Land Ownership 303

Sir Robert Needham, 400 merk«;fa66.

GrosTenor of Belkport.

Newport of Ercall, a lordship with Pluk, £200.

Leighton of Leighton.

LeightOD of Wattletborongh.

Lei^ton of Plash.

Leighton of Rodington.

Mitton of Coton, near Shrewsbnrj, jf 133.

Trentham of Shrewsbnrj, £$0.

Thomes of Shrewsbury, £$0,

Onslow of Onslow, £^,

Oteley of Pitchfbfd, £iQO,

Scriven of Frodesley, 100 merk of landsjf66.

Leigh of Langlej, ;f too.

Laken of Willej, 300 merks^jfaoo.

Gatacre of GaUcre, too merks«;f66.

Wolrich of Dndmastoo, 100 merkss|£66.

Hanghton of Beckborj, £^,

Yonge of Cajntoo, lOO merkss|£66.

Vernon of Hodnet, aoo merks«jf 13a.

Cotton of Cotton, £$0,

Charlton of Aplej.

Charlton of Wombridge.

Among the other naines to be found in Leland's
Itinerary are :

One Brooke, a lawyer, of Chuidi Stretton.

Lord Powis (i.#.. Grey de Powis).

Francis, Earl of Shrewsbury.

The Dake of Buckingham, of Cans Castle.

Earl of Arundel.

Earl of Derby (as owner of land through the Lords Strange

of Knockin).
Sandford of Sandford.
Vernon of Stokesay.
The Baron of Burford.
Rowland Hill, merchant, of London.
Mr. John Dudley.
Mr. ComwaU.
"Arthur Newton hath almost made away all his landes."

Comparing Leland's list with the modem Donusday
Book of 1873, I can find only six of the same names;
while the comparison of incomes shows the enormous
relative depreciation in the value of money. In 1873

904 MuiORiAU or Old Shropshire

tfaxee Shiopdiire landoimen axe credited widi over
^30b000i two with over £2OfiO0, eig^ with over £iOfiOOt
twenty-seven with over a^SiOOO^ 164 witfi more tiian
£tfioo.

I pass now to another standard by whidi we may
measure the ptogress of diange. Christopher Saxton's
Elizabethan map of Shropshire marks twenty-four paiks»
not probably all deer parka» but fenced endosuces used
for cattle as well as game, and in all cases indicatii^ a
residence of importance!

Addeilcj. High EicaU. Otdcy. ShrawmnfiBe.

BlMkmere. HodneL Pqipeiliin. Staunton.

Caidiiton. Kenwick. Plulu Tonf .

Cheswmrdine. Langlej. Shavington. Upton.

Qeobuiy. TjTIffdnn. Shambnif. Wilkj.

Hanghmond. Oakley. Shdvock.

To which list Speed adds Dean (near Ludlow)» Stokessy,
Shif nal» Linley (near Bridgnorth), and Igfatfield.

There were in 1895, I think, ten deer parks in Shrop-
shire, but only one, Oteley, near EUesmere, which I think
was dispariced at one time, is identical with any in Saxton's
list Eight, however, of his parks are still represented
by mansions. Between the reigns of Elizabeth and
Victoria several new parks were made and have since
been disparked. Emmanuel Bowen's map (1751) marks
the following:

Tmg^ CasiU.^Duk§ of Kingston.

Pepperhill. — Earl of Shrewsbury.

SAefitaI,-^£ari of StaffortL

High Areola and Eyton.'^Earl of BradfortL

OakUy Park. — Earl of Pomis.

Shtnton Place. ^ Lord Kilmony,

Halesowen. — Lord Dudley.

Houghton. — Briggs^ Bart.

Aldenham. — Acton, Bart.

Hawktton.— Hill, Bart

Longnor.'^Corhit^ Bort,

Hamogo Grongt.'^Fomlir^ Bort.

Wattlesborough.— Leighton, Bart.

Changes in Land Ownership 205

HaisUH,^Myttmt Esq.

Morton Corbet.— Corbet, Esq.

Borreatton.— Hunt, Esq.

M0nnl.^lViavir^ Esq.

Willey.— Forester, Esq.

Apliy.— Whitfiwr; Esq,

CMdffVir, — Barmi^n, Esq.

Parkington. — Owen^ Esq.

Park HalL^CharUon, Esq.

Aston.— Lloyd, Esq.

Wtst Coppice tmd Onshw.^Powis^ Esq.

CkUwyn.'-Piggpi^ Esq.

Linley.— More, Esq.

The map of Basil Wood of the White Abbey is also
useful. It was made about the year 171 5> and professes
to mark the country houses in the county, and in the
margin are the names and the arms of two himdred
owners. This map is not exhaustive of the subject, and
there are mistakes as well as omissions. Nevertheless,
it is astonishing to notice how many of the two hundred
names enumerated have disappeared and how many new
names and houses have sprung up in the interval For
instance, neither Hawkestone nor Attingfaam appear in
this m^, and three-fourths of the families whose names
and arms are recorded are no longer represented in the
male descent The list is as follows^ :

Acton, Bart.

Biggs

Calcott

Corbet, Bart.

Acton

Bird

Cariwright

Corbet

Adams

Blount, Bart

CkarUton^ Bart.

Corbet

Adams

Botemlle

Charleton

Corbet

Andrews

Boycott

Ckarleton

Cormvell

Asfley, Barf.

Bradford, Earl of

Chetwood, Bart.

Cotton

Baldwin

Bridgeman, Bart

Church

Cressett

{now Childe)

Briggs, Bart.

Clayton

Danes

Baldwin

Briggs

Clough

Deives, Bart.

Baldwin

Brown

Qyve

Donm

Bentall

Brown

Coats

Edwaidt

Berrington

Burton

CoU

Edwards

1 Tboae whose names are printed in italics hare disappeared in tbe male
line, or have sold their estates. The test adopted is whether the name is now
to be found in Burke's Landod Gomtry,

306

Memorials vr Old Shkopshirk

£jFii>M

HMngs

Llqjrd

/Vmff

fmcA

Hofijn

Uorl

/VMf

FUitw§&d

ffosi€r

Lla]Fd

Amt

Fofcster^Kt

Hunt

Lmiky

Flnms,EmHtf

F0wlir^ Bari.

Ireland

Maekmartk

Prtsimsed

P^nms

Jenkin

Maitemasriteg

Price

F0X

Jenks

WlgktfiMi

PryncM

Gaidner

JMer

MiddUiam

Pmgk

G^nuU

Jones

MinskstU

Pygott

Gram

/#-«

Moofc

Ridlay

Gruwenor

Jones

Mastiss

Scmriett

Hanmer

Karver

Myttm

Seats

HoMftur

KinardsUy

Myttm

Seait

Hamadie

Kinastan

Hnoport^ Urd

Seveiii

Harris

Kinasian

Hnoiam

Harris

Loam

FulUy

Skriaukira

Harw9od

LangUy

Oakley

Siamer

Hayfus

LangUy

OtiUy

IVaU {or fValey)

Haytus

LangUy

Ottley

Ward

Hayward

Lea

Owen

Weald

Herbert

Leighton, Ban.

Owen

WkiU

HibbtHS

Lister

Parke

Wkitmore

Hill

UttUton

Phillips

Wingficld

HiU

Littleton

PkiUips

Wooldridge, Bart.

Holland

Llewellin

Plowden

Vales

Helland

Lloyd, Bart,

Pope

Young

Idditional names: —

AcUm

Jedi

Powell

Vaughan

Acton

Jones

Prince

Walker

Aran

Langley

ReveU

Wallcott

Baugh

Lea

Shrewsbury,

WaHng

Bendy

Mirrick

Duke of

Waring

BotteHll

Moore

Slaney

Weaver

Briggs

Moseley

Smallman

Weld

Brooks

Mucklestan

Smitk

Wilbrakam

Child, Kt,

Newton

Soley

Williams, Burt

Gibbon

Owen

Spratt

Griffiths

Owen

Taylure

Wynne)

Griffiths

Pierpoini, Lord

Wylde

In Kell/s Directory of Shropshire for 1905 will be
found a list of the jwrincipal seats in Shropshire. It
mentions 231, which the reader may compare with Basil
Wood's.

Changes in Land Ownership 207

The names of those who during the troubled period
of the Civil War took part on one side or the other prove
that the Rebellion was a struggle, not of dass against
class, as was the French Revolution, but of the supporters
of one theory of Grovemment and Religion against the
supporters of another. Amongst those who in Shropshire
favoured the Parliamentary side are to be found :

The Earl of Bridgewater, President of the Court of
the Mardies and a patron of Richard Baxter; the Earl
of Denbigh, General Mytton of Halston and his brother-
in-law, Myddelton of Chiric Castle ; Corbet of Adderley,
Corbet of Stanwardine, Cotton of Bellaport, Forester,
Matthew Herbert of Oakley Park, Fowler, Harcourt
Leighton of Plash, Mackwordi of Betton, Norton, Clive
of Styche, Lloyd of Aston, Powell of Park, Baker of
Sweeney, Evans of Treflach, Hunt of Shrewsbury (after-
wards of Boreatton), More of Linley, Jones of Kilhendre
(a regicide), Chariton of Apley, Mitton of Shipton,
Edwardes of Greet, Pierpoint of Tong, Young of
Caynton, Kinnersley of Badger, Leighton Owen of
Bragginton, Betton, Botterell, Waring, Wingfield, Ludlow
of the Moorhouse.

Among the waverers were Lord Herbert of Chirbuxy
and the Owens of Condover.

I have pointed out how entirely the castles have
disappeared as residences. It is difficult to put one's
hand on an inhabited house of the fourteenth century, and
not easy to find one of the fifteenth. One of the most
ancient residences in Shropshire still used I believe to be
the Prior's House at Wenlodc, and it is certainly one of
the most interesting. I will mention in passing a few
other old houses : Plash, near Caidington, can show some
remains of Tudor-Gothic, intermixed with Elizabethan
work, and it has not been much touched during the last
two centuries and a half until it was lately carefully
restored. Condover is the largest and best example
of the later Elizabethan style in the county. The

3oB MEiiosiALa»or Old Shsokhibx

WhitafaaH howfver, in Shrewsbmy, is frrrhap^ as a
wbol^ moie cbancteri4|ic^ beca me its manouuSagk
its gate-hoiiset its dtyveoot, its waffled gaidena^ and its
staMes» are still pietty much as tli^ were. There
is a good nramplr of an eaafy seventeenth oentiBy
dovecot and bam at Hbdnet Whittoo Govt; near
Ludlow; Lydston* in Oaveriqr; Maddey GoiBt
Latwydie» Bebwaidine^ Shqifconi Upton CieasetU and
Plowden are among the sixteenth and seventeenth oentoqf
houses vrfiidi are still maintained as lesidenoes; fait
generally we must sedc for old earamplea of dom e ilir
ardiitectitte in farm-hoiises» and in mai^ of these the
original character is wdl p r eserved Blade and vdule
timbered houses are to be found all over S hro ps hir e^
especially in the towns, and above all other towns in
Shrewsbury. Pitchford ranks as the best specimen of a
coimtry house in this style as a whole, but the frontage
of Park Hall, near Oswestry, will bear comparison with
any facade of this class in England. Marsh, or Mardi,
in the parish of Westbury, is a small black-and-white
house, and has been recently exceDently restored; and
the same may be said of the Black Birches. Melverley
Church, Halston Chapel, and Park Hall Chapel are
examines ot the use of this style in ecclesiastical buildings.
The sta;tely but ruinous shell of Moreton Corbet is a fine
Jacobean design of first-rate order. The house was burnt
down before it was inhabited, and has never been rebuilt
I draw near to my conclusion, and return to the point
from whence I beg^ — that acquaintance with the local
evidences ot history makes us admit that there are fewer
old things of man's contrivance in the world than some
people think. Go into any house, and how little can yon
lay your hands upon which has been in that house for a
hundred years! You may see in any well-appointed
mansion books and furniture, and swords and armour, and
lace and jewellery, and silver and pewter, linen and tapes-
try, and pictures, but how little, even though it be old, has

1 ,'■

f ;

If ^ I

Changes in Land Ownership 209

been in the place for long ; how little has been seen and
handled by those who lived there centiiries ago! There
were few books, few pictures, few ornaments, in a country
house even in the eighteenth century. The old inventories
testify to the simplicity, not to say ruggedness, of the
lives of our ancestors. So when people bring treasures
of art, and especially when they bring portraits, to an
old house they should not be ashamed of labelling them,
in order that old things which have been purchased may
not be mistaken for old things which were brought into
the house when they were new and have grown old in the
same place. A mansion may be built in a year — a home
cannot be made in a year or in a generation. When a man
rebuilds his house by way oi making a good job of it,
instead of carefully repairing the existing habitation, he
destroys a homeliness which he will never see again. More
harm has been done by too lavish reconstructions than by
neglect

Shropshire has largely benefited in every generation
from new comers, who have added to its material prosperity
and pleasant associations.

The fair new homes of England,

Hornet of the strong and free,
Of a race that still for erer will

The new world's masters be.

I think, moreover, that in this country the ancient and the
modem fairly combine together, and every day grow into
closer harmony. Certainly, people are not now so set
upon pulling down in order that they may rebuild as they
were in other days. There is greater reverence for the
past and a better reading of its story.

The old-world homes of England,

What tales their walls can tell
Of hopes and fears in bygone years

To those that read them well.

SHROPSHIRE AND ITS SCHOOLS

By John Ernest Auden, M.A

\kn of Tong ; Editor of SAmudury SckoU RtgisUr^ I734-I906

)ARKNESS hides the centres of learning in
Shropshire during the early history of the
county. No doubt, under the Romans
Uriconium would have its school, since it was
part of their policy that the conquered should learn the
language of the conquerors. And Julius Agricola (whose
task, directly he became Governor of Britain in A.D. 78,
was to crush the rebellion of the Ordovices, a Shropshire
tribe)^ strenuously persuaded the leading British nobles
to allow their sons to learn the Latin language and study
its literature.^ The result of this principle was that
eventually (in the words of Gildas), " Britain might have
been more properly called a Roman than a British
island." Christianity, too, must have been spreading in
the county during the Roman occupation, for tradition
says that when, some fifteen years after the Saxon inva-
sion of 584 and the burning of the "White Town in the
Forest," Augustine of Canterbury made a tour up the
Severn Valley to Cressage, he found the district already
Christian. Probably, therefore, many a missionary had
been in his humble way doing what Bede did on a larger
scale at Jarrow — gathering together a small band of

1 Tacitus, Agricola^ xviii.

2 Jam vcro principum filios Hberalibus artibus enidire, ut qui modo
linguam Romanam abnueboDt, eloquentiam ooncupiscerent. — Tacitus,
Agricola, xxi.

Shropshire and its Schcx)ls 211

scholars. Though the power of King Alfred would hardly
reach this border county, still the influence of his law
compelling all freeholders who possessed two hides of
land or upwards to send their sons to school would
doubtless be felt, and the force, too, of his example when
he repaired the ruined monasteries and built new ones,
instituting in each a school where all the knowledge of
his day might be taught to laity as well as clergy. This
at least may be inferred from the fact that in Saxon times
four collegiate churches were founded in Shrewsbury, to
each of which was attached a body of cleigy whose duty
was to go out to the surrounding villages to diffuse know-
ledge and promote learning, as well as attend the sick
and infirm.

The first real information, however, which we possess
is found in the Chronicle of Ordericus. In it he writes :

I wu baptized on the Sunday of Easter, 1075, at Atcham. When fire
yean old I was sent to school at Shrewsbury. While there Siward, a
pfiest of great eminence, instructed me in letters for five years from
Nicoitiates Carmenta, and taught me Psalms and Hymns and other
necessary learning.

His teacher, Siward, was probably the Saxon who
ministered in a small wooden church on the site of which
Rc^[er Montgomery in 1083 erected his great Abbey of
St Peter and St Paul, and at the new foundation
Ordericus continued his education. It was an integral
part of a priest's work to instruct the youth of his
generation. In fact, education was left entirely in the
hands of the Church, as may be learned from the Canon
of 1 1 79, which gave the teachers of cathedral schools
authority to superintend all the schoolmasters of the
diocese, a Canon which was repeated in 12 15.

About this time there were several schools in Shrews-
bury attached to the abbey and other religious houses
(for in 1232 we read of the post of " rector of the schools
of Salop" as evidently one of importance and honour),
and this was, no doubt, the case aJso in other towns in

212 Memorials of Old Shropshire

the county, for the present Grammar Schools of Bridgnorth
and Ludlow were originally connected with rcclcsiasrical
foundations, the chantry of St Leonard's and the Palinecs'
Guild, the former thus dating from the twdfdi oentiiiy»
the latter from the thirteenth. In 1410 a CoIIq[iate
Church was built at Tong, its statutes providing for a
chaplain to teach the children of that and the neig^iboariqg
villages reading, singing, and their grammar; and at
the same date a similar institution was erected at Battle-
field, with a school kept at the coU^e.

In fact, Oswestry, founded in 1404, seems to have
been the only public school in Shropshire beftxe the
Reformation unconnected with a religious house. There
were, however, private schools in some of the larger towns^
since, according to the Shrewsbury Corporation books*
the bailiffs of 1448 deposed a certain cleric named Thomas
Fillilode from any longer teaching boys or keeping school
within the town.

Upon the abolition of monastic schools, as Sir William
Dugdale remarks, there ensued a great decay of leanui^,
for the Crown was very slow in recog^nising the duty of
carrying on the good work which it had compelled the
abbeys and collegiate churches to lay down, and private
gainers by the dissolution refused to recognise it at all
For example, in 1548 the Commissioners reported that
the priest of the Service of our Lady of Maddey " hath
always kepte a gramer schoole there," but no steps were
taken by them to continue this work ; and the same may
be said of Tong and Battlefield, mentioned above^

1 The records appended show that close on 200 Grammar Schoois
existed in England before the reign of Edward VI., which were, foi
the most part, abolished or crippled under him. It will appear, howem,
that the records are defective . . . Enough, however, can be gathered
from other sources of information to permit the assertion to be confidentir
made that 300 is a moderate estimate of the number when the floods of
the great revolution, which is called the Reformation, were let loose.
Most of them were swept away either under Henry or his son ; or, :''
not swept away, plundered or damaged. — F. A. I^eacji, English Sckocls -.'
the 'Reformation^ 1546-8 (pp. 5, 6).

^ ;

Shropshire and its Schools 213

Edward VI.,* indeed, saved the schools of Shrewsbury
from perishing by handing back a share of the spoils of
the CoU^ate Churches of St Chad and St Mary ; Bridg-
north's endowment was augmented in 1548 by part of
the plundered chantries of the town; and Wellington
received a royal grant two years later. But private
spoilers of monasteries did nothing, and other places had
for years to await the generosity of benefactors. It is,
too, worth noticing in how many instances Shropshire
Grammar Schools were founded by men who had gone
from the county, and had made fortunes in London in
the seventeenth centiuy.

Here a word might be inserted on the term Fret
Grammar School, which is so often misunderstood. As
the late Dr. Kennedy pointed out, it does not mean a
school in which the education is gpratuitous, but one which
is free from the old ecclesiastical jurisdiction. As has
been already said, before the Reformation almost every
school was attached and subservient to some religious
foundation. When Exlward VI. and his Coimdl desired
to re-found schools, they also wished to place them under
conditions less dependent on ecclesiastical power, and
therefore chartered them as liberm^ free from that juris-
diction to which schools had in former years been subject,
and possessing the privilege of governing themselves.
In the words of an eminent legal authority, " Liber homo
may just as well be translated, ' A man whose services you
may conunand for nothing,' as libera schola, * A school to
which you may send boys without payment' "

Taking the various Free Grammar Schools of Shrop-
shire in the order of seniority of foimdation, we may

1 The expression " Edward VI." is, it must be understood, only a short
form for the predominant protector of the moment. The poor, rickety,
over-educated boy, who was only sixteen when he died, was not responsible
for either the good or the eril that was done in his time. " Edward VI."
means first the protector Somerset, then Dudley, Duke of Northumberland,
and under them Paget, Sir Walter Mildmay, Lord Chancellors Andley
and Rich, and others. — ^F. A. Leach, p. 5.

214 Memorials of Old Shropshire

enumerate them thus: Ludlow, Bric^orth, Oswestry,
Wellington, Whitchurch, Shrewsbury, Maricet Drayton,
Shifnal, Worfield, Donington, Wem, Newport, Halesoweo,
High Ercal, Whittingtoa But, unfortunately, many of
them were endowed with a fixed yearly sum, which, though
quite adequate at the time, has since become, by the
sdtered value of money, far too small to carry out the
intention of the founder; and so the institutions have
sunk to the perhaps no less useful rble of elementary
schools. This has been the case with Wellington, Shifnal,
Donington, High Ercal, and WhittingtorL

Before touching, however, on these various schook in
detail, something should be said about the great educa-
tional charity — the Careswell — ^which has assisted so many
Shropshire boys to a University career, otherwise
impossible to them.

By a will, dated February 3rd, 1689, Edward Careswell,
gentleman, of Blakelands, in the parish of Bobbington,
who belonged to a Shifnal family, left his estates at
Stottesden, Bobbington, Quatford, and other places for the
maintenance of eighteen exhibitions at Christ Church,
Oxford, open to all natives of Shropshire who had been
for two and a half years educated at the Free Schools of
Bridgnorth, Shrewsbury, Wem, Newport, Donington, or
Shifnal. They were to be allocated in the following
proportions : — Shrewsbury 4, Newport 4, Bridgnorth 3,
Shifnal 3, Wem 2, Donington 2. Lately, the founder's
intentions have been modified, and now the exhibitions
may be held at other universities than Oxford.

Ludlow Grammar School is the oldest existing school
in Shropshire, for it was founded by the Palmers* Guild
and this was in being before the reign of King John, and
was incorporated in 1284 by Edward I. It is mentioned
in records dating back to the fourteenth century, and up
to the Dissolution of Religious Houses was held in a
building near the church. But in the reign of Henry VIII.
a migration was made to what was called the ** Great

Shropshire and its Schools 215

House/' in Mill Street When the Guild was dissolved,
its revenues were confiscated, to be restored, however, in
1552 by Edward VI., who practically re-founded the
school, for in his charter the King directed the bailiffs,
buigesses, and commonalty of Ludlow *' always to find in
the same town at their own costs and charges a Free
Grammar School, with a schoolmaster and an ussher for
the erudition of youth in the Latin Tongue."

Charles Langford, Dean of Hereford, in 1607
bequeathed the annual sum of £sz 4s. for the education
of four boys, who must wear black gowns, and whose
election was placed in the hands of the bailiffs; while
some time afterwards Richard Graves founded two^
exhibitions of £30 each at Balliol College, Oxford, for
" young scholars elected and chosen from the Free School
of Ludlow."

Of boys from this school who have made their mark,
we may mention William Owen, the Royal Academician,
bom in 1769; John Williams, Rector of Edinburgh
Academy, and Archdeacon of Cardigan, the friend of
Sir Walter Scott (who called him " the best schoolmaster
in Europe"), and the tutor of Frederick Robertson of
Brighton; and George Ballard Matthews, scholar, and
afterwards Fellow, of St John's College, Cambridge,
Senior Wrangler of 1883, who was educated at Ludlow
Grammar School from the age of eleven till he entered
the University, and who, report said, was as many marks
above the second of his year as the second was above
the thirtieth.

At Bridgnorth a school had been supported from
the revenues of the chantry of St Leonard for a lox^
period prior to 1503. But on March i8th of that year
an order was made at the Great Court by the twenty-four
burgesses *' that there schall no priste kepe no schole save
oonly oon child to helpe hym to sey masse after that a
schole mastur comyth to town, but that every child to
resorte to the comyn schole in payne of forfetyng to the

2i6 Memorials of Old Shropshihe

chaumber of the towne 20s. of every priste that doth the
contrary." This "comyn schole's" eiido¥mient was
augmented out of the wreck c^ Church property by
Edward VI., for on the dissolution of the several chantries
the C(xninissioners» in 1547, recommended a grant by the
Crown of £8 per annum " from the revenues of the late
dissolved Chantry of St Leonard" This estate was
subsequently sold, and now the payment is made at the
Crown Audit The bailiffs and Corporation were the
governors, since, on July 20th, 1629, they dismissed both
head-master and usher. In the early part of the seven-
teenth century Sir William Whitmore, Knight, of Apley,
built a schoolhouse cm the south-east side of St Leonarcfs
Churchyard, and a dwdling for the use of the head-master,
letting the latter at the nominal rent of eight shillings
per annum, which is still (or was quite recently) chained

Of famous alumni, Sir Rowland Hayward, Kni|^
Citizen and Alderman of London, was Lord Mayor iD
1560 and 1590, and was a benefactor to his old school;
Thomas Percy, successively chaplain to George II., Dean
of Carlisle, and Bishop of Dromore, was the author of
TAe Hermit of Warkworth, and the compiler of Reliquis
of Ancient Poetry; William MacMichael, M.D., was
Physician to William IV., and also his Librarian; and
Ralph Robert Wheeler Lingen while at Trinity College,
Oxford, gained the Ireland, the Hertford, and the Eldon
Scholarships, the Latin Essay Prize, and a First Class,
was elected a Fellow of Balliol, was made a K.C.B. in 1879,
and raised to the Peerage as Baron Lingen in 1885 for
his work as Permanent Secretary to the Treasury from
1870 to that year, and died on July 22nd, 1905, aged
eighty-six years.

We cannot leave Bridgnorth without speakii^ of an
act of self-sacrificing heroism on the part of one of
its boys some forty years ago. When the roof of
St Leonard's Church was under repair two boys from
the school made their way in during the workmen's dinner

Shropshire and its Schools

217

hour. They dimbed on to the scaffolding, and while
moving about a jdank on which they were standing gave
way. In falling, the younger of the boys managed to
lay hold of a beam, and the elder saved himself by seizing
him by the legs. There they hui^, hoping each moment
the workmen would return and rescue them from their
perilous position. After a while the elder perceived that
the younger^s fingers were relaxing their grasp of the

Ftmm mm\

Bridgnorth.

\Old Wmt€r^€0Uur,

beam, and at once asked if he thought he could hold on
for ten minutes longer if freed from the weight on his legs.
After a moment's hesitation he faintly whispered that he
thought he could Then the elder, with a message to his
mother and a good-bye to his conurade, loosed his hold
and fell to the floor of the church. Shortly afterwards the
workmen came and rescued the younger from his perilous
position, but the elder had been instantly killed by the
fall

Oswestry, the earliest Fret Grammar School in

2i8 Memorials of Old Shropshire

Shropshire, was, according to Leland, founded in 1404
" by one Davy Holbeche, a lawyer, steward of the towne
and lordship, who gave £10 land to it," and a house on
the south-west side of the church. (David Holbeche was
possibly M.P. for the county of Salop^ and afterwards for
Shrewsbury.) Among the statutes for the government of
the school, drawn up in 1577 by the vicar and the baiUSs
of Oswestry, during the mastership of William Marbuiy,
M.A., occur the following reg^ations, which seem worth
quoting, as showing bygone customs and manners: —

6tA iiem. — Whereas a certain Duty due to former Schoole Mrs. in tlie said
Sehoole commonly called Cockefight money was but a peny of ev'ry Schoolar,
he the said new Schoole Mr. is henceforth to have and receive of ev'ry one of
hit Schoolars 2d. yearly for the Cockefight money.

8/4 t/tfiw.— The Schoole Mr. shall at all the School Dayes of the year,
winter and summer, resort to his said Charge and Schoole at 6, or between 6
and 7 of ye clock in the morning, and shall continue there till 5 of ye clock in
the evening, the time of Meals excepted.

Till 1869 there were no scholarships from Oswestry to
the University ; then, howevef, money was raised to found
one open to any boy at the school. The earliest holder
of this was Alexander Fletcher Jones, mathematical
scholar of B.N.C., Oxford, who subsequently gained two
first classes in Mathematics and a first in Natural Science.
He was afterwards a master at Clifton CoUeg^e, and when
returning home from a review with the School Cadet Corps
was fatally injured by the accidental explosion of a rifle.

During the long head-mastership of Dr. Donne, lasting
from 1796 to 1833, there were at times upwards of three
hundred boys on the books at once, and his pupils included
two future deans, four canons, a G.C.B., an F.R.S., four
generals, five M.P/s, and three County Court Judges.
Among earlier Oswestrians were Humphrey Humphreys,
Bishop of Bangor 1 689-1 701, and of Hereford 1 701 -12;
and Thomas Bray, Bishop of London's Commissary for
Maryland, Vicar of St. Botolph's, Aldgate, and founder of
the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and of

Shropshire and its Schools 219

the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts. Among the later alumni were Colonel Bumaby,
of Khiva fame, and Colonel Turner Jones, R.E., who
served in the Afghan War under Lord Roberts, and was
mentioned in General Orders and recommended for the
V.C. for his gallantry on August 12th, 1880.

Oswestry was one of the many schools affected by the
Civil War. Edward Payne, who had been appointed
head-master in 1640, took the King's side, and the
following letter from Oliver, Lord Protector, dated
" Whitehall, July 13th, 1657," tells his fate :

Wee being infonned that the Free Schoole of our Towne of Oswestrie
is now Toyd of a head Schoolmaster settled there by reason of the
Delinquency and Ejection of Edward Paine, late Schoole Master thereof,
have thought fitt to recommend Mr. John Evans, the sonne of Matthew
Evans, late of Penegroes in the county of Mountgomery, as a fit persoo
both for piety and learning ..."

Evans did not long enjoy his new position, for on the
Restoration in 1660 he was in his turn expelled and Payne
re-aiq>ointed. The school, however, had not been allowed
to die out in the interval between the Loyalist's ejection
and the Protector's appointment, for "John Wilcockes,
Schoolmaster of Oswestry," was elected one of the Presby-
terian Elders for Shropshire in 1647.^

In 1548 the Commissioners for the Regulation, Con-
tinuance, and Erection of Schools found that "the preste
celebrating at the altar of Our Lady within the parish
church of WELLINGTON kepte always a Grammer Schoole
ther freelie," and directed that it should be continued, and
that the master should have the annual salary of £4 i/s. 6d,
as had of old been used, and that this should be paid by
the Receiver of the Coiut of Augmentation. Though
this sum is still paid annually to the Elementary Schools,
there has been no Grammar School at Wellington f(M:

1 For a fuller account of Oswestry School, see a paper by the late
Mr. Askew Roberts in the Transactions pf tJU Shropsmri Arekmohgicai
Sociity, October, 1881.

220 Memorials of Old Shropshire

centuries — in fact, it does not appear that any r^;ular
foundation was ever established

Though we read of Bishop Norbury, of Lid^ekL
licensing John Gilbert in 1328, and William de Grophull
in 1358, to keep a Grammar School at WHITCHURCH, the
present scho(^ there is of later date, and owes its origin
to the Rev. John Talbot, Rector of Whitchurdi, and
others, in 1550. They gave an endowment for a master
and an usher, and a house for the former, of whom die
right of choice was vested in feoffees chosen out of die
principal inhabitants of the town.

Robert Clive, of Styche, son of Ambrose Clive, Fellow
of St John's Coll^^ Cambridge, was at Whitchurch
Grammar School for three years before he entered his
father's old college in 163a He afterwards sat as M.P.
for Bridgnorth in the Long Parliament, was a monber
of the Committee of Safety of 1643, was one of the
sequestrators for Shropshire, and a colonel in the Parlia-
mentary Army. In this last position he was so active that
it was rather profanely suggested that the people of
Shrewsbury should add to their Litany the following
clause : —

From Wem, and from Wyche,

And from CliTe of the Styche,

Good Lord, deliver us.

When the Abbey and the other religious institutions
of Shrewsbury were dissolved in 1538, a proposal was
made, but never carried out, to erect this town into a
bishop's see, with a school attached having a master and
an usher, "to teach bothe grammer and logycke in the
greke and latten tonge." When this scheme came to
nought, the burgesses in 1548 sent to Lord Ridi, the
Lord Chancellor, a vain supplication for a free sdiool, and
(now joined by the principal inhabitants of Shropshire
and the adjacent counties and mid-Wales) they two years
later made another, and this time a successful, effort, for,
as an old chronicle tells us :

Shropshire and its Schools 221

1551-2. This jeare by the Ubor of one Hughe Edwards el Salop,
and late of London, mere', and Master Rjchard Whyttacks ... an
anwetie of zzli for and towards the majntenance of a free schoole in the
sayde town of Shrewsbury lor ever was obtayned to the great preferment
•f the yoathe of that towne and the quarters there adjoyninge in good
leminge and godly educason.

The charter of Edward VI. bears the date February
lOth, 1 55 1-2, and is a grant of part of the tithes of the
late collies of St Mary and St Chad. The first master
was a Sir Morys, who was apparently not a success, and
the second a John E)rton, also a failure. But 1561 saw
the appointment of Thomas Ashton, Fellow of St John's
College, Cambridge, and the school at once sprang into
the first rank, for on December 28th, 1562, there were
2G6 scholars on the bo<^ half alieni, half oppidani; and
in seven years 875 boys were admitted

On May 23rd, 1571, Queen Elizabeth, in answer to
the prayer of Ashton, her personal friend, made a further
grant of the tithes of the Priory of Chirbury, and more
of the estate of St Mar/s. The ordinances by which the
school was governed till 1798 (when they were repealed
by Act of Parliament) were drawn up by Ashton in 1 577,
who, though he had resigned his head-mastership six
yeafs before, still continued the "godlie father" of the
school till his death in 1578. The hours were : From Lady
Day to All Saints' Day, 6 ajn. to 11, and 12.45 P°^ to
5.30 ; from AU Saints' Day to Lady Day, 7 a.m to 1 1, and
12.45 to 4.30, if daylight served, no candles being
permitted, for fear of " breeding disease, or peril otherwise."
The games allowed were shooting with the long bow,
chess, running, wrestling, and leaping, for limited stakes,
no betting being allowed on any consideration. In
Ashton's days dramatic performances were a prominent
feature of sdiool life at Shrewsbury, and he left a standing
regulation that every Thursday before enjoying a holiday
the highest form should "dedaim and play one act of a
comedy." Ashton was succeeded by Thomas Lawrence,
another Fellow of St John's, who was equally successful

222 JitMOfkiMS or Old Shsopshibb

as a teadier» and whoac average mmiber of boys
not fur short of 400^ for in 1586 Camden calb his adiool
''the best fitted in all Englandt** and ''the nncseiy of
learning and a singular benefit to the whole Common^
weakh."

Instead d stage plays Lawrence had a liking for
pageants, and the old Chronicle gives ns an aoooont of a
great militaiy diq)lay made in 1582 by the boys for the
entertainment of Sir Henry Sydney, when the whole adiool
seems to have been one large volunteer corps ;

Tlie aeoottde da]n of liaTe all the leoDm of Uie Free Sooolebd^ae
is Bvmber 360, with the maiteit befoie them maidiiag bcav^ im hettd
Ofdef with theiie aenenlls, capteBf^ diooiiiet, tioonipets sad cuIgM
before them thiov^ the towne towerds e Uwge fiUd calljd the G^fc^
mad there devjfdinae their bends into iiii psrts, met the Lord Frestdeat;

and when Sir Henry left again by river certain chosen
boys made " lamentable oracons, sorrowinge his departure."
After twelve years' work Lawrence resigned, and was
followed by John Meigfaen, one of Ashton's pupils, who
governed the school for forty-eight years with a success
which would have been much greater had it not been
for the town bailiffs, who were continually interfering in
matters which did not concern them. The head-master,
for instance, desired to promote RalfA Gittins, the thini
master, to be second; they refused their consent
Meighen, however, did promote him, and Gittins moved
into the second master's lodgings. This was too much for
the bailiffs, who proceeded to attempt his removal by
force. But Gittins was popular with his pupils, and, there-
fore, with the ladies of Shrewsbury (their mothers and
sisters), and, egged on, no doubt, by sons and brotheis^
who would enter hugely into the joke, ''many women
forcibly kept possession of the schoolhouse by the ^noe
of four days and three nights together, at which time one
of the bailiffs endeavouring to go into the school up a pair
of stairs had like to have been killed or spoiled by the
casting of a piece of timber down the said stairs." In the

Shropshire and its Schools 223

end» however, Gittins was compelled to resign, though after
a few years he was reinstated by Meighen, who took a
subtle revenge on his adversaries. About this time the
schoolhouse, which was of timber, was taken down and
entirely rebuilt oi freestone. The bailiffs wished to have
their own names placed over the gateway rather than a
Greek inscription. To this Meighen would by no means
consent, but he pointed out to them a small building close
at hand newly dedicated, not to the Muses, but to Cloacina,
and suggested a stone over the door as admirably adapted
for such a record. The bailiffs fell into the trap, and
their names were to be read there by admiring schoolboys
so late as 1798.

Such dissensions naturally caused the school to fall
somewhat in numbers, till Meighen's resignation, and the
appointment of a pupil of his, Thomas Chaloner, in 1635.
In his first nine months 128 new boys were admitted, but
soon douds of Civil War began to loom over the land,
and in November, 1642, Chaloner wrote: "Academies
mourn, the colonyes of Muses are desolate, and the number
of Shrewsbury schoole is small" He was himself a stout
Royalist, and when the King came to Shrewsbury in the
September of that year, he and his friend and colleague,
David Evans, placed their chambers at the disposal of
the royal company, and lent the school library for meetings
of the Commission of Artillery. Six hundred pounds was
also borrowed by Charles from the school chest, and, of
course, never repaid For all these acts, it is not
surprising that when the Parliamentarians gained posses-
sion of Shrewsbury, they at once ejected Chaloner from
his post and appointed another in his room, one Richard
Pigott "Bonis omnibus exutus aireaKopcueurOov'* ("Robbed
of all my goods, I was cast out to the crows ") is Chaloner's
own account For nineteen years he was a wanderer, a
very Ulysses of schoolmasters, till at last, when the King
got his own again, he returned to his " ancient province."

But we have not space to go through the history of

234 Memorials of Old Shropshire

the various head-masters, or trace how the school's fortunes
rose with some and fell with others, till at the end of the
eighteenth century it reached its lowest imder James
Atchcrley, who in twenty-eight years reduced its numbers
to twenty-two— a fact ^ich is not sur^xising if we believe
the traditional tale that the favourite amusement of this
head-master and his colleagues was to practise kicking at
a flitch of bacon hung in the kitchen for the purpose, to
see who could kick the highest. But many gentlemen of
influence in Shrewsbury and the neighbourhood had
become convinced that unless drastic measures were taken
there would be no hope of Shrewsbury ever takix^ its
old place among public schools. They therefore obtained
an Act of Parliament in 1798, by which Ashton's
ordinances, which had governed the school since 1577,
were revoked.

The new head-master was the great Dr. Samuel Butler,
who held office for thirty-eight years, and entirely revived
the fallen glories of Shrewsbury, raising its average
numbers to nearly three hundred. When he resigned in
1836 and became Bishop of Lichfield, one of his most
distingruished pupils, Benjamin Hall Kennedy, was chosen
to succeed He held the reins till 1866, then the present
head-master was appointed, imder whose guidance the
removal to Kingsland (in the opinion of the late Dr.
Thring, of Uppingham, "the finest site for a school in
England ") was successfully carried through. But whoever
would study the history of this famous school at length
should turn to the late Rev. G. W. Fisher's Annals of
Shrewsbury School (Methuen & Co.).

Of illustrious old Salopians we have room to mention
very few. Among Ashton's pupils were Sir Philip Sydney,
the hero of Zutphen ; his friend, Greville, Lord Brooke ;
Andrew Downes, Professor of Greek at Cambridge, one
of the translators of the Bible; and John Penry, the
Puritan, author of the Martin Mar-Prelate Tracts. Among
those of Lawrence were Lord Chief Justice Crewe;

Shropshire and its Schcx)ls 225

Edward Bromley, Baron of the Exchequer; Sir Clement
Edwards, Muster Master-General and Secretary of State ;
and Rowland Heylin, at whose cost the Bible was trans-
lated into Welsh. Meighen taught Sampson Price,
malleus hareticorum ; Bishops Dee of Peterborough and
WooUey of Clonfert ; Sir Piers Griffith, commander of a
ship against the Armada ; the RoyaUst officers, Sir William
Vaughan, Sir Francis Ottley, and Sir Thomas Scriven;
and their opponents, Colonels Thomas Hunt, Samuel More,
and Humphrey Mackworth. Chaloner did the same to
Sir Geoi^e Saville, Marquis of Halifax, the "Great
Trimmer," as Macaulay styles him. Of Pigott's days were
"Demosthenes" Taylor, the scholar; William Williams,
Speaker of the House of Commons (who, as Attorney-
General, with his old school-fellow, Thomas Powys, as
Solicitor-General, conducted the prosecution of the Seven
Bishops) ; and Chief Justice Jeffreys. In later years came
Richard Hill, the diplomatist ; Ambrose Phillips, the poet ;
Thomas Johnes, translator of Froissart; Sir Richard
Perrott, A.D.C. to the Duke of Ciunberland at Culloden ;
Bishops Bowers of Chichester and Thomas of St Asaph ;
and Senior Wranglers Edward Waring and Thomas Jones.
Of the alumni of the last one hundred years it is almost
invidious to give names. Of those who entered Navy or
Army, representatives were present at Trafalgar and
Waterloo and other scenes of the Napoleonic struggle;
twenty-two or more served in the Crimea, of whom one
commanded the first troops landed for that campaign, and
two were killed in action ; in the Indian Mutiny twelve at
least took part, two meeting their death at Lucknow;
and of the 133 who fought in "the great Boer War," four-
teen laid down their lives. In the Church, there have been
one archbishop and eleven bishops; three Salopians, too,
assisted in the Revised Version of the New Testament
In Law, the Chief Justices of Ireland, Bombay, Queens-
land, and Lagos, and many County Court Judges and
King's and Queen's Counsels. In Science and Art,
Q

226 Memorials of Old Shropshire

Charles Darwin and seven other Fellows of the Royal
Society, and the Antiquaries Sir C T. Newton and
the Rev. C H. Hartshome; while the Sabrina
Corolla proves to the world the ability of Salopians
in classical composition. In the Senate, some thirty-
three have sat as M.P., several of whom have held
high office in the Government In Sport, seven or eight
have acted as Masters of Foxhounds. In the " Battle of
the Blues," twenty-seven have striven manfully on the
Thames and seven on the cricket field, not to mention
football and other contests. Finally, at the Universities
Shrewsbury has had one Senior Wrangler and eighteen
Senior Classics; and has won almost numberless First
Classes and University Prizes at Oxford and Cambridge
(four of the latter being gained by boys while still in the
Sixth Form). " It is not, however,"' as Dr. Kennedy once
said, " in the more conspicuous walks of public life that
you must seek instances of the success and usefulness of
Shrewsbury men. You will find them at the Universities
honourably and usefully engaged in tuition ; in country
livings honourably and usefully fulfilling their sacred duties
as clergymen ; at the head of Grammar Schools employed
in training new generations to a like career of honour
and usefulness. You wiU find them, I hope, wherever they
are, acting always as honourable and useful members of
society."

Market Drayton Grammar School is one of the few
schools dating from the reign of Philip and Mary. Letters
Patent of November 6th, 1555, directed that the school
should be called " The Free Grammar School of Sir
Rowland Hyll, Knight, Citizen and Alderman of London.*'
By these power was given to the founder to appoint master
and usher as often as those places were vacant during his
lifetime, and also to make statutes for its government
He named as governors the churchwardens of Drayton and
their successors. But in the Civil War his statutes were
not observed, for the school declining under a Mr.

Shropshire and its Schools 227

Cudworth (probably brother of Ralph Cudworth, the
author of The Intellectual System), Sir John Corbet, of
Adderley, M.P. for Shropshire, took the matter into his
own hands, and at the beginning of February, 1646-7,
appointed Thomas Chaloner, already mentioned as ejected
two years before from a like position at Shrewsbury, to
the head-mastership, at the same time procuring a
dispensation from Parliament on his behalf. But before
a month was over the Shropshire Conmiittee interfered,
deprived him of the post, and frustrated the general
expectation that under his management " the faded glories
of the school would be revived"

The Orders and Statutes date from November 5th,
1 719 (when John Addenbrooke was chief schoolmaster
and Joseph Bown usher). These declare that the school
was to be kept in St. Mary's Hall, " free for all children
placed there for their learning to read English and to
understand the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages."

The hours were to be : March 25th to September 29th,
from between 6 and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a break for
dinner from 1 1 to i ; September 29th to March 25th,
" from as soon as the scholars could read " to as long as
they could, provided this was not after 5. Should any
gentleman ask for a holiday for them, he must pay 2& 6d.
towards the fund for improving the school library. The
school boys were not to play with the town boys who
did not belong to the school, nor be allowed to converse
with them, and all such town boys, not being scholars of
the school, were to be expelled and driven out of the
churchyard from the company and conversation of the
scholars. No boy or boys were to bar out the master or
usher before Christmas on pain of expulsion.

One of the treasures of Market Drayton School is a
fragment of an old desk fixed against one of the interior
walls, which bears the initials " R. C." These letters are
supposed to have been cut by the g^eat Lord Clive when
a Market Drayton grammar school boy. It was while here

228 Memorials of Old Shropshire

that he performed his well-known feat of dimbiiy up to
the rwd of the church tower, and then lowering himself
ckiwn on to a gargoyle, on which he sat astridCp to the
great consternation c^ the townspeople betow.

The origin of the Free Grammar School at Shifnal
is uncertain, but it was in existence in 1595, when Jdm
Aron by will left ;^20 towards erectin|^ a schoolhouse.
Subsequently it received several other small benefactions
Though one of the schools diosen in 1689 to enjoy the
CaresweU Charity, all the endowments were in 1761
diverted to the English or Elementary Schocd, with the
exception of a l^^acy from a Mr. Bennett of £4, los.
The classical master, therefore, had perforce to keep a
private boarding establishment under the name of the
Grammar School; and this was done fairly successfully
at Idsall House from about 1780 by the Revs. Robert
Dean, John Wood, J. Matthews, Samuel Clarke (1856-67),
and W. F. Satchell (1867-73), sifter whose time the so-
called Grammar School gradually declined, and finally
disappeared. Of boys educated here we may mention
the late John Hawley Edwards, Magistrates' Clerk at
Shrewsbury, one of the finest players who ever stepped
on a football field, who represented both England and
Wales in International Matches, and was Captain of the
once famous Shropshire Wanderers.

WORFIELD Grammar School evidently existed prior to
1613, for in that year James I., by his Letters Patent (in
consideration ot £s 4s, paid by Thomas Beedi and
Thomas Bradbume), granted to William lAoyd and
Thomas Parker and their heirs certain premises in
Worfield, Bridgnorth, and Quatford, in trust, that the
yearly proceeds should be employed for "the instruction
of j^uth in reading and writing English and in the
accidence and principles of grammar and of the Latin
tongue." There appear to have been " savings " out of the
income, and these purchased land at Brierley Hill for a
small sum. which the discovery of minerals caused to be

Shropshire and its Sch(X)ls 229

valuable and to realise ;f i6,cxx), which fonns the nucleus
of all the endowments of the parish. With part of this
sum a new school and master's house were built in 1878
at Roughton. Latterly, however, the number of pupils
has greatly decreased, though boys from Worfield have
gained scholarships at Clifton, Rossall, Bloxham, etc
For some years at the close of the seventeenth century
the head-master was Thomas Turner, Rector of Badger ;
and it is a somewhat curious coincidence that at the close
of the nineteenth century the head-master, the Rev.
Thomas W. Turner, for four years had charge of the
same parish.

The Free Grammar School of Wem owes its beginning
in 1650 to Sir Thomas Adams, woollen-draper, Alderman,
and Lord Mayor of London. He was a son of Thomas
Adams, of Wem, tanner, and after taking his degree at
Jesus College, Cambridge, engaged in business in London,
and speedily rose to wealth and eminence. In 1639 he
was sheriff, in 1645 Lord Mayor, and for his sufferings
as a Royalist was made a Baronet in 1660. He used his
riches well, for besides giving " the house of his nativity
to be a Free School for the educaticm of the Town-bom
children of Wem," he founded the Readership of Arabic
at Cambridge, and bore the expense of translating the
gospels into Persian.

The first head-master was the Rev. Richard Roderick,
M.A, of Christ Church, Oxford, who retained the post
tin his death in 1674. At first the school was carried on
in a large room over the Market House, but in August,
1665, a Mr. Wycherley, who had bought the manor of
Wem, forbade its further use for this purpose, and from
that time the teaching was done in the church till a
schoolhouse was built in 1670. The premises were
rebuilt in 1776.

The Free Grammar School of DONINGTON, in the
parish of Wroxeter, was instituted in 1627 by Thomas
Alcocke, and endowed with £13 6s, 8d, and thirty years

230 Memorials of Old Shropshire

afterwards Richard Stevenson by will left a like sum.
This school was originally kept in Wroxeter Church till
a house and six acres of land were given by some unknown
benefactor. It was intended for forty boys, inhabitants
of Wroxeter and Uppington, to be prepared for the
University, and among its head-masters have been
Goronwy Owen, " the Premier Poet of Wales," and John
Douglas, "Scourge of impostors and terror of quacks,"
Bishop of Salisbury 1 791-1807. Of his days at Donington
Richard Baxter, author of The Saints' Rest, wrote :

The present Lord Newport and his brother were then my school-
fellows in a lower form ; and Dr. Richard Allestree, now Doctor of the
Chair in Oxford, Canon of Christ Church, and Provost of Eton College ;
of whom I remember, that when my master set him up into the lower
end of the highest form, where I had long been chief, I took it so ill,
that I talkt of leaving the School. Whereupon my master gravely but
very tenderly rebuked my pride, and gave me for my theme : Ne sutor
ultra crepidam.

George Rowland Edwards, of Ness Strange, who served
in the Hon. East India Company's Army 1816-62, and
retired as Colonel of the 2nd Madras Cavalry, was a
distinguished scholar of a later date.

At Newport there was a school attached to the
Collegiate Church (founded by Thomas Draper in 1442),
and in 1547 it was under the charge of Richard Rob>Tis,
one of the Brethren of the College. When this was
dissolved, and its income seized, £$ was allowed to
Robyns for his work, and no doubt also to his successors,
for in 1 58 1 a sum of £$ was ordered to be paid to the
schoolmaster from the former college lands, and £^ is still
given from the Land Revenues of the Crown. In 1633
William Robson, a member of the Salters' Company of
London, and native of Newport, gave £^ per annum to
the master of the free school of Newport, but his bene-
faction was soon thrown into the shade by the liberality
of William Adams, citizen and haberdasher of Londoa
He, by a deed dated November 27th, 1656, re-founded
the school and endowed it with considerable landed

Shropshire and its Schools 231

property at Knighton, Adbaston, and Woodease. Four
years later an Act of Parliament was obtained appointing
the Master and Wardens of the Fraternity of the Art or
Mystery of Haberdashery in the City of London as
Governors.

Mr. Adams, in turn, wished Thomas Chaloner,
ejected from Shrewsbury and Market Drayton, to be head-
master of his new school Cromwell's assent was obtained
through the influence of one of his chaplains, Thomas
Gilbert, Rector of Edgmond, " the Bishop of Shropshire,"
as he was sometimes called, a man of g^eat power at the
time; and Chaloner could now thankfully describe him-
self as one

Cujus, Texata procellis
Innumerisy perpessa minas coelique marisque,
Tandem tuta Novo coosedit cymbula Portu.

The school was formally opened on January 7th, 1656-7,
the head-master bringing forty-five boys with him from
Ruthin ; in sixteen months the numbers were sufiicient
to warrant the appointment of a second master, and a
school list dated January 26th, 1658-9. contains as many
as 242 names.

The statutes, constitutions, and orders made and sub-
scribed by the founder for the government of his school
bear the date February 2nd, 1656. Among them are :

(i) The School to be free to 80 scholars for the teaching of the Latin,
Greek, and Hebrew tongues or any one of them.

(5) The School hours to be March 10 to Sept. 10, from 6 to 11 a.m.,
and from 1 to 5 p.m. ; Sept. 10 to March 10, from 7 to 1 1 a.m.
(except in the two months when the days are shortest it is to
be from 7.30 to 11.30), and from i to 5 p.m., or as long ai^day*
light continues ; no candles being allowed for teaching in the
School at any time.

(15) No scholars that hare attained such progress as to be able to
speak Latin shalT either within or without school speak English
when they are among the scholars of the same or a higher form.

(18) No scholar shall at any time with knife or otherwise cut, notch,
or deface, wainscot, forms, seats, ftc. The Master upon com-
▼iction shall inflict exemplary punishment for deterring of others
so to do.

232 Memorials of Old Shropshire

Thomas Brown, the humorous, though somewhat coarse,
poet, buried in Westminster Abbey in 1704, arid William
Cureton, the eminent Orientalist, Canon of Westminster
and Chaplain to Queen Victoria, were Newport Grammar
School boys ; and here also was Sir OUver J. Xodge.
F.R.S., the famous Physicist, Principal of Birmingham
University, though only for a short time, since he left
when but 14.

In 1644 John Pearsall, of Hawn, gave by will £$
towards building a free school at HALESOWEN, formerly
a detached portion of Shropshire; and a Commission,
sent down from the Court of Chancery in the time oi
the Commonwealth, endowed it with houses and lands.
Here William Shenstone, the poet, received his. earty
training.

At High Ercal Thomas Leeke, Baron of the
Exchequer, of the family now settled at Longford, founded
a Grammar School in 1662, but since 1887 the funds have
been too low to admit of its being carried on.

Lastly, Whittington once possessed a Grammar
School, the gift of Peter Webster, and dating back to
1681.

Of Endowed Village or Elementary Schools there are
many in Shropshire founded before the eighteenth
century. At Onibury, for instance, William Norton in
1593 left an annual sum of £6 13 s. 4d. for the education
of the children of that place ; at Barrow a Mr. Slaney
in 161 2 founded a school for sixty pupils ; at Alveley, John
Grove, a native of the parish and Freeman of the London
Grocers' Company, in 1616 bequeathed ;£^io to be paid
annually to the village schoolmaster; at Tong, Lady
Pierrepoint revived the old College School dormant for
more than a hundred years, and in 1656 left yearly sums
of £4. for teaching poor girls to read, and £i for their
books ; at Claverley, the National School is supported by
the legacy of Richard Dovey, who in 1659 gave land, the
proceeds thereof to clothe and educate fourteen boys ;

p.:

^^l:

Shropshire and its Schools 233

at Lydbury Nortfi, John Shipman, house-steward at
Walcot, by his will of May 26th, 1662, left ^^200 for the
erection of a room in which all the poor children in the
parish might be instructed, and his master, John Walcot,
gave an annual endowment for it of £^ ; and at Chirbury
in 1675 ^^ Vicar, Edward Lewis, built a school-house and
endowed it with ;t20 a year to pay a master. Elsewhere,
too, there were parish schools carried on at least as early
as the seventeenth century; for example, at Alberbury
and Bitterley, the former taught by the parish clerk, the
latter under the superintendence of the churchwardens,
who in 1697 paid "for chimney money for ye schoole,
IDS." At Middle also there was a school before 1642, for
in that year Gough tells us, "the old Communion Table
was brought into the schoolehouse for boyes to write on ;
the old Reading Peiw was likewise brought into the
schoolehouse for the schoolemaster to sitt in." And. as
the Church Register declares, "Abraham Howell, of
Ashford Carbonell, schoolmaster, was the loth of October,
1653, chosen to be register (sic) for the parish of Ashford
aforesaid."

Before leaving the schools of Shropshire, mention
should be made of the proposed university at Shrewsbury
and the once-famous academy at SherifFhales. Richard
Baxter, the divine, in 1656 wrote to his friend John Lewis :

I am most desirous to treat with you about a Colledge with academicall
priviledges for Wales, and I am glad that you and Dr. Ellisl favor it.
I did ten years agoe expound it to Col. Mackworth3 but succeeded not.
Halfe a yeare ago I expounded it to Major Genii. Berry,3 who promised
me his best assistance, but the -want is money. Till we see a probability
for that it is in vaine to gett authority. I heard of a Shrewsbury man
liveinge in London worth ;^4o,ooo that had no child to leave it to, and
wrote to him — though a mere stranger — my strongest arguments to move
him to bestow on such a foundation ; but could not prevail. If you could
but get ;^i,ooo stock to build so much of a Colledge as would containe
an hundred students and but ;£'300 or £"^00 per annum at first laid to it.

1 Vicar of Dolgelly, and Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford.
3 Governor of Shrewsbury.
3 Cromwell's Major*General.

334 Memorials of Old Shbopshikb

I say if yoo coold fint piocvic Mrannoe of tliit mmdk dAer horn om
p than be jc fovndtr, or bj contiilmtioo» I make m» doofal to pnmue
avdMritj fnm ye PioCoctor and Pa ri ia mca t, and looie hoadred powidt
per aaaam addition froaa my friends, peibaps many, for many w9l giie
to snch a work wken tkey see it in a hopefnll way, yet will not bcfin it
at not knowinge wiio will hdpe it on* I oonceife Shiewalmry ye only
fttt place in many lespects. ist It's a capable place where may be safi-
dent accomm oda t io n s and a place of some name: and A little withia
ye ireiiKe of England is best that your sons may leame Englii^ : ^rd If s
a place of strengthen if warre shonld arise ye students may be aecared:
4th It's a strength iriiere they may live imthottt military cntsngkmfoti
Ladkw Castle will not be trasted to scoUars nnless they tamed aoldicn
and ycLtown woold not secnre them, nay ye castle will draw nune on them :
5th It is a healthfnll seat : 6th There is a gsUant free adioole alfaeady
to perceive for ye academy, and I know no reasoii hot ^100 or ^aoo per
annnm ought be allowed out of ye now soperflwras maintenance of ye
schoole*

Despite all Ridiard Baxter's efforts, his scheme came
to naught, but less than twenty years afterwards at Sheriff-
hales was started a real Academy — i,e., a provincial
university — a place where the higher branches of learning
were taught, and where youths were trained in special
arts and sciences for the learned professions, and not a
mere private school, into which the name has now
degenerated. It was conducted by the Rev. John
Woodhouse, who at one time had between forty and
fifty students, including Henry St John, Viscount
Bolingbroke ; the two sons of Sir Edward Harley, Robert
Earl of Oxford and Edward the Auditor; Thomas, Lord
Foley; Thomas Hunt of Boreatton; members of the
Wilmington and Lechmere families, besides many theo-
logical students. The pupils were of the same age at
which others at that date went to Oxford or Cambric^
and the {Mrovision for their instruction was as varied as
that of the Universities themselves. The lectures
comprised courses in Logic, Anatomy, and Mathematics,
followed by Physics, Ethics, and Rhetoric Lessons were
given in Greek and Hebrew. Law lectures were provided
for those who had entered at the Inns of Court or were
intended for the legal profession ; while those who aspired

Shropshire and its Schools 235

to the pulpit were taken through a course of theological
study. All students, without exception, were obliged to
read certain works on natural religion and Christian
evidences ; and as Grotius was one of these authors, we
see a previous knowledge of Latin was taken for granted.
Practical exercises were not neglected Debates were
held on Fridays, and on Sundays the elder theological
students were called upon to take part in the family
devotions, not only in prayers composed by themselves,
but in setting psalms to tunes. On other days they were
employed in surveying land, composing almanacs, making
sundials of different construction, or dissecting animals.
Altogether it was a liberal curriculum, and for about
twenty years this Academy was a good substitute for the
Universities, from which so many were in those days
barred by the Test Acts. Its life lasted probably from
about 1675 to 1696.^

Such is a short and superficial review of the educa-
tional facilities enjoyed by Shropshire at foundations prior
to the eighteenth century, for those of a later date do
not come within the scope of this paper. And from the
facts herein mentioned we must, I think, arrive at the
conclusion that this was a county in which the advantages
of learning, both classical and elementary, were in former
times more adequately supplied than in many, or perhaps
most, of the others in England

John Ernest Auden.

1 From informatioD kindly supplied bjr the Rer. A. T. Mitchell, If .A.,
F.S.A., Vicar of Sheriffhalet.

ARCHITECTURAL STORY
REPRESENTATIVE BUILDINGS

By Henrietta M. Auden, F.RHist.S.

|HROPSHIRE has its fair share of representative
buildings. We can hardly count among them
the hut circles and camps on the hills, nor the
strongholds among the meres and woodland
The Roman buildings, too, have been reduced to buried
foundations, with the one exception of the " old wall " of
the public baths at Uriconium. Our Saxon forefathers
also have left little trace of their dwellings, and the Lady
of Mercia's castles at Oldbury and Chirbury are now
simply earthen mounds differing little but in size from the
sites of the homes of the Saxon franklins shown in
several villages, notably at Shawbury, by a moated mound
near the church, and at Humphreston, near Tong.

The Britons of Powisland were Christians before OfFa
in the eighth century wrested Pengwem from their hands,
but (unless we except the foundations of a very early
church existing under the flooring of St Mary's, Shrews-
bury) there is no trace of a Christian building before the
later Saxon days.

Perhaps one of the most early Christian moniunents
now to be seen in Salop is the cross built into Wroxeter
Church. It dates from the eighth or ninth century, and
may have been erected on the outskirts of the old Roman
city that the Saxon tillers of the fertile land should feel
protected from the evil spirits supposed to haunt the ruins
of the forsaken Roman houses.

236

Architectural Story 237

Milburga, a daughter of Merewald, the son of Penda,
a sub-king of the Western Hecani, in the latter part of
the seventh centiuy founded a rehgious house at Much
Wenlock, and ruled over it until her death. The late
Captain Williams-Freeman, whose knowledge of Shrop-
shire was unrivalled, both in breadth of view and accuracy
of detail, said that she must have been a woman of power
and foresight, for the lands of her abbey bore trace of
her wise rule even in the present day. The little church
of Barrow, near Wenlock, contains Saxon work which
may go back to the eighth century, almost to her time.
The church of Stottesden has Saxon carving above the
western doorway that now leads into the base of the
tower; it seems to be a rude representation of a hunting
scene, with very upside-down animals. The date is
probably of the early eleventh century, rather earlier than
the Saxon work remaining at Stanton Lacy Church, where
the north wall of the nave and the north transept show
the unmistakable long and short work of the period
Stanton Lacy was probably built in the reign of Edward
the Confessor, and was in good repair during the time that
Norman architecture was in fashion, for there is no trace
of that style, and the present chancel is Early English of
the thirteenth century.

The church of Diddlebury in Corvedale has Saxon
work in the north wall of the nave and the base of the
tower. The church of Wroxeter has also a little Saxon
work in the north wall, in which Roman material has been
worked up. Rushbury Church, which stands near the site
of a Roman station, has a piece of early walling incor-
porating Roman work in its twelfth century nave.

The coming of the Norman brought in a new order
of things. The timber homestead of the Saxon franklin,
defended at most by a ditch and palisade, made way in
many cases for the Norman castle. The manor of
Stanton-in-Corvedale, for instance, was given to a Norman
brron, Helgot, who built there the castle which gave the

338 Memorials of Old Shropshise

phoe its tiame of Castle Hblgate Another Nonnan,
Coxfaet, and his son Roger, founded the great castle of
' Cavsi which they caDed after their Nonnan home. The
border, manor of Weston was defended by the castle of
Whitdiurch, and that 6l Meresburie by Oswestry.

Speed credits Shropshire with thkty-two castles^ and
these were mainly of Norman fbondation. The ma jmty
6l these have left no trace beyond the steep moimd on
whidi their keep stood Shrewsbuxy and LodloWp how*
ever, still remain — the one with a NcMman gateway* tiie
other with its lomid diapd and other fragments d Nomwa
work Probably the four fortresses mentioned in tiie
Donusday Book — ^Shrewsbury, Oswestry, Montg<»neiy,
and Stanton (now Holgate) — were not buildings of a veiy
permanent character, and were added to and attered
considerably during the twelfth century.

We have no Norman house left in Shropshire. Roger
de Montgomery built himself one at Quatf ord, and founded
a church and castle there, but within fifty years it was
eclipsed by Bridgnorth, and not even a portion of the
church dates back to his day. Had this not been the case,
we might perhaps have found there, as we do at Christ-
church in Hampshire, a stately church, a Norman house,
a small castle upon its mound, and a borough in their
shadow, all standing together, as their founder intended
them to be.

The Norman barons of Holgate built their castle near
the Saxon Collegiate Church, and as the years went on
they possibly added to the dignity of the sacred building
as they added to the strength or comfort of their strong-
hold Holgate Church possesses a very fine doorway of
late Norman work, and an equally fine font of the same
date. In 1 109 Henry I. stayed at Holgate, and the castle
must then have been a building of some pretensions ; but
now little remains but the lower portion of a round tower
incorporated in a later farm-house. The great castle of
Caus had its chapel within its walls, as had all the larger

Architectural Story 239

fortresses, but the smaller were content to be near the
parish church.

The Normans were great church as well as castle
builders. All four of the Shrewsbiuy parish churches bore
traces of their handiwork, and the nave of the abbey
church there still stands in its massive grandeur. There
are few of the remaining village churches of e^ly
foundation that have no Norman work visible, and the
twelfth century was an era of much church building. The
beautiful chancel of Shifnal dates from the early, and that
of Wroxeter from the late, twelfth century.

In addition to more or less stately parish churches, the
Norman masons have left us several small chapels of
beautiful proporticms and good detail One now in ruins
is at Malins Lee, and another stands much as its builders
left it, at the Heath, in the parish of Stoke St Milborough.

The early thirteenth century saw this activity in
building abated in Shropshire. Buildwas, Lilleshall,
Haughmond, and Wombridge abbeys were all foundations
of the twelfth century, though their buildings were altered,
improved, and added to in later times, and there was no
violent break between the styles of architecture. The
pointed arch was developed for structural reasons from
the round, but there is not very much Early English
work to be found in Shropshire. It was a stormy time,
and men had the Norman buildings still firm and strong.
The church of Cleobury Mortimer contains good work
of the early thirteenth century, as does also that of
Chirbury. The former was near the castle of one of the
most powerful barons of the time, and the other, though
in an exposed position on the Welsh border, was under
the protection of the lords of Montgomery.

The latter part of the thirteenth century saw the rise
of town life and the decay of mere fortress-castles. Men
began to build themselves manor-houses fortified by a
moat and a wall which they " crenellated " by royal licence.
Some fourteen of these " licences to crei!ellate " were

240 Memorials of Old Shropshire

granted for Shropshire houses during the period 1272-
1399,' betweeii the accession of E(lwaid I. and that of
Henry IV. The earhest of these was that given in 1284
to Robert Bumel, Bishop of Bath and Wells and Lord
Chancellor of England, to embattle his house of Acton
Bumel, and the second was that granted to Lawrence de
Ludlow, seven years later, for his mansicm of Stokesay.
At Acton Bumel we have the shell of the bishop's house
remaining, with — some hundred yards away — the great
gable ends of what is popularly called a bam (havii^
possibly served that purpose in later times), but which is
probably the remains of the earlier mansion house where
Edward I. stayed with his Chancellor in 1283 for the
purpose of holding the Parliament of Acton BumeL
Almost within the precincts of the castle of 1284 stands
the church, one of the most beautiful thirteenth century
buildings to be found among English churches, carefully
restored and reverently kept. The bishop seems to have
begun the church about 1260, and to have finished it some
twenty years later, for there is a slight break in style
between the chancel and the nave, though both are Early
English of the thirteenth century. The manor-house is a
quadrangular building, with a small courtyard All the
internal walls are gone, but it is possible to trace the
great hall, which was over an undercroft, and some of the
other rooms.

The present Hall is said to have grown up round the
gatehouse of the bishop's mansion, and, if so, the precincts
of the latter must have been of considerable extent The
churchyard was originally on the north side of the church,
contrary to the usual custom, and probably the south side
joined the outer precincts of the manor-house.

Stokesay is another notable example of late thir-
teenth century work. The hall still stands with its roof-
timbers stained with the smoke of its brazier fire, and
though the house was continuously inhabited from the
time of Lawrence de Ludlow, or perhaps earlier, till the

Architectural Story 341

dghleenth century, generations have added to it without
much alteration of the early work. The church at
Stokesay stands just outside the precincts of the manor-
house, but it suffered grievously during the troubles of
the Civil Wars, and was largely rebuilt in 1654.

There seem to have been a ntmiber of important houses
capable of being held against an enemy which never
received the licence to crenellate. Shropshire abounds in
moated sites, sometimes occupied by later buildings^ some-
times lying desolate, with the m(»:e modem manor-house
a Aort distance away. At Longnor, midway between
Shrewsbury and Churdi Stretton, only mounds and broken
groimd show where once stood the house of the
Sprenchose family, for the building of which in the early
thirteenth century Roger Sprenchose had a grant erf trees
from the royal woodland at Womerton, near Stretton. The
thirteenth century chapel still stands in the park beside
the mill-pool a few yards from its site, and the mill, ^ich
was at work when the Conqueror came, still fulfils its
task of grinding com. Another trace of old days is left
at Longnor in the Moat-house, which is mentioned in a
deed of the thirteenth century. Within the moat is a
small half-timbered house, part of which is of mediaeval
work, and the whole probably represents the buildings of
an early farm.

Another moat-house in the neighbourhood is near
Stapleton, but that was a more ambitious building, being
the manor-house of the family of de Stapleton, who were
of great importance during the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries, and held Stapleton from the time of Stephen
till the middle of the fifteenth century. Though the
present buildings are later, they stand on the foundations
and show the plan of the mediaeval manor-house. On
the south side of the moated enclosure stands the house,
and on the other sides are the farm buildings, forming a
quadrangle entered through a gatehouse on the eastern
side. When the great gates were closed and barred in
R

242 Memorials of Old Shropshire

olden times the whole was capable of resisting a consider-
able force before the days of firearms. Unlike the
majority of early manor-houses» the moat is a consideraUe
distance from a church. Stapleton Church is a mile away,
near a mound which may have been the site of a Sazoo
house, or was a meeting-place in the forest which for a
century after the Conquest stretdied across the country.
The church is of early thirteenth century date, and is
remarkable as having once been in two stories. Possibly
the lower portion was intended for use as a stordious^
^pidiich might be safe, under the protection of the chuidi,
from the marauders that were only too numerous in those
days. Perhaps the oldest inhabited house in the county
is that of Upper Millichope, once the residence of the
Forester of the Long Forest, within the bounds of vAiiA
Stapleton lay.

Binweston, near Worthen, the old home of the Kerry
family, is another moated house, and in the woodland that
lay in Pontesbury parish, but near Shrewsbury, are three
or four houses that retain their moats.

At Pitchford, as at Longnor, the church and manor-
house stood together ; but while the church dates from the
early thirteenth century, the present house does not go
back further than the close of the fifteenth. Aston Act
also retains its twelfth century church, founded by Robert
Fitz Aer, but the house of the Fitz Aers is now incor-
porated in farm buildings, and the gateway forms the
nucleus of a modem house.

With the exception of those for Acton Bumel, Stokesay,
and the now vanished Warranshall, near Moreton Say.
all the Shropshire licences to crenellate are of fom-teenth
century date ; but of these only Cheney Longville, near
Wistanstow, remains, and that in a much altered conditioa
It is moated, and, like the moat-house at Stapletoa the
buildings rose out of the moat and surroimd a courtyard
entered by an arched gateway. The lower portion of the
work of 1395 remains, but the roof is modem.

Architectural Story 243

Apley Castle, Sheriff Hales, Whitchurch, Dawley, the
Charltons' mansions at Shrewsbury and Withiford, have
all disappeared. A few fragments are to be seen of the
house of Austin Friars at Shrewsbury, crenellated in 1344,
and a crumbling turret staircase still stands at Middle,
where John le Strange in 1307 built his castle. Tong,
crenellated by Fulk Pembruge in 1381, was rebuilt in 1500
by Sir Harry Vernon, and his house was in turn masked
by modem building about 1765.

Ludlow Castle was repaired and strengthened by Roger
Mortimer in the time of Edward II., but later suffered
considerably during the Wars of the Roses, and needed
some additions before, under Edward IV., it became the
seat of the Court of the Marches Vaughan's mansion
in Shrewsbury, though hidden by later building, still
retains its hall of the late fourteenth or early fifteenth
century date, but it is the only remnant of the early
mansions of the town, except a few fragments of Cole
Hall, used as a stable and a workshop, and the picturesque
comer of Bennett Hall known as the " Old Mint"

Many of the more stately Shropshire churches contain
fourteenth century work, especially in their chancels, and
the church of Neen Sollars is wholly of this date, as is its
neighbour at Nash. The latter is a very simple building,'
by no means so picturesque as the little cruciform church
at Neen SoUars^ with its spire rising among the cherry
orchards The magnificent church at Ludlow is mainly
of the fourteenth century, with the addition in the following
century of the tower and the east end of the chancel and
its fittings. Possibly its grandeur is to some extent owing
to the patronage of the Mortimers, though probably more
to the generosity of the burgesses of the town, as the
burgesses of Newport enlarged their church at this date
without the aid of a resident lord. The Mortimer family
seem to have enlarged the church of their town of
Cleobury in the fourteenth century by a north aisle ; and
the Mortimers of Chelmarsh in 1345 built the chancel and

344 Memorials of Old Shropshire

nave of the church there, which remains to this day a
beautiful example of Decorated ardiitecture.

Albrighton, Claverley, Shifnal, and Wcxfield, on the
east of the county, and Clui^^unf ord, Berrington, and
Ponttebury, on the west, all have chancek of the four-
teenth century; and at Hughley, once a manor of the
Mortimers, the whole church dates from this period;
while in many earlier churches we find Decorated windows
inserted. At Stanton Lacy and at Wrockwardine the
upper part of the tower is of fourteenth century date, but
the majority of our Shropshire towers are Perpendicular
work.

Kinlet has transepts and chancel built at this time,
when the Mortimers, Earls of March, had an interest in
the manor ; so it seems possible that the work may be
due to some band of masons specially patronised by them.
The chancel and south aisle of Stottesden Church are
perhaps the most beautiful example of Decorated work
in the county, and they were probably built about 1340,
when John de Seagrave was lord of the manor, through
whose daughter and heiress the estates passed to the Dukes
of Norfolk.

The fifteenth century saw the rise of half-timbered houses
and the prevalence of Perpendicular forms in architecture.

Pitchford Hall is said to go back in part to 1475,
though this is perhaps doubtful ; and the fine comer house
of Butcher Row in Shrewsbury dates from the close erf this
century, and to this day shows the" original arrangement
of the shops on the ground floor. The house on the Wyfe
Cop where Henry of Richmond slept in 1485 still stands
to show how well men built in the fifteenth' century ; and
probably there are several smaller houses scattered about
the county equally old. The house now known as the
" Small House," at Condover, is a good specimen of a
coimtry house of about this date ; and part, certainly, <rf
Coton, near Hodnet, goes back to the latter part of Ac
century. The prior's lodging at Much Wenlock is a most

Architectural Story 245

interesting example of fifteenth century stonework, and
consisted originally of sets of chambers opening on to a
covered gallery.

The builders of the fifteenth century have left us in
Shropshire many good timber roofs, Uke that of Alberbury
Church and the more simple one at Ford Tasley and
Ford possess screens of simple design ; Hughley, Lydbury
North, and Bettws-y-Crwyn more elaborate ones; and
many churches, like Ditton Priors, show fragments of a
fifteenth century rood screen woriced up in later woodwork,

Tong is a perfect example of a church of the early
fifteenth century. It was built about 14 10 by EUzabeth
de Pembruge in memory of her husband, and, with the
exception of the Vernon chapel built in 15 15, the fabric
remains much as she left it on her death in 1447. The
beautiful screen-work is probably a little later than her
day, but we know that much of the woodwork in Ludlow
Church was carved in 1447.

The church of Battlefield was built about 1409 by
Roger Ive, of Leaton, Rector of Albright Hussey and of
Fitz, as that of a college of five chaplains and a warden,
who were to daily pray for the souls of those slain in the
battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. Dame Elizabeth Pembruge's
church was also collegiate. Her college of Tong was for
five priests (one of whom was the warden) and thirteen
poor, seven of whom should be those too infirm to help
themselves. Unlike Tong, the church of Battlefield fell
into ruin, and when in 1861 it was restored as it now
stands many of the details needed to be added by the
modem architect

Both at Ton^ and Battlefield the buildings of the
college have whoUy disappeared, but at Tong there are
stin at the west end of the church a few fragments of the
fifteenth century hospital of the college.

The half-timbered church of Melverley is an interesting
example of fifteenth century work ; and Trelystan church,
on the Long Mountain, once in the parish of Worthen,

246 Memorials of Old Shropshire

althou^ in the county of Montgomery, is of similar work,
and almost equaUy picturesque.

The great glory of fifteenth century ardiitecture is its
towers, and nearly every stately tower in Shropshire dates
from the second half of the fifteenth or the first half of
,the sixteenth century. The tower of Battlefield was
finished in 1503; the splendid tower of Ludlow a little
earlier; while those of Church Stretton, Claverley,
Edgmond, Upton Magna, Shawbury, are only a few of
those to be found scattered up and down the county.

The tower of St Leonard's, Bridgnorth, was rebuilt on
the old lines of the one dating from 1468 ; and the spire
of Worfield is of similar date. Ellesmere Church has a
good deal of work of this century, and the Abbey Churdi
at Shrewsbury has many Perpendicular features, indudiog
the great west window. The spire of St Alkmund's is
wholly fifteenth century work; while at St Mary's and
St Julian's an upper storey of this date crowns earlier
work. This is the case with several other towers, and the
ambition of fifteenth century builders which prompted
them to place a lofty superstructure on earlier work not
intended originally to bear so great a weight is responsible
for the fall of more than one building. It is not
improbable that this had to do with the fall of the church
of Whitchurch, as a drawing of the church before 17 10
shows a very fine fifteenth century central tower ; and
possibly also with that of Condover in 1660, as there is
a tradition of a central tower there which in its fall crushed
the nave and north aisle.

The sixteenth century was one of peace and prosperity
throughout England. Wealth increased in all ranks,
especially among the middle classes, and comfort was
more considered than in early days. Squires and
merchants, yeomen and tradesmen of every degpree, built
themselves houses fitted for the new luxuries, and there
is hardly a town or parish in Shropshire that cannot show
a house, larger or smaller, of this date. In Shrewsbury a

it :■•

It'-

Architectural Story 347

fine half-timbered house at the comer of Princess Street
and the Square is dated 1570, and the equally fine Owen's
mansion bears the date 1592. A now much plastered
house at the bottom of the Wyle Cop was standing in
1573, when it belonged to Thomas Sherar, Clerk of the
Court of the Marches. The "Olde House" on Dogpole
belonged to an earlier official of the Court, one of the
Rocke family, and the Princess Mary Tudor is said to
have stayed there when on her way to Ludlow Castle,
where she resided in state.

The White Hall is another Shrewsbury house of the
sixteenth century, finished in 1582. The old market hall,
so familiar an object to all who know Shrewsbury, was
finished in 1 596 ; and the fine half-timbered market-house
at Much Wenlock is possibly a little earlier in date.

Wellington possessed an equally fine market-house in
1804, but it has now disappeared, as has the similar one
at Church Stretton.

It would take up these pages unduly to enumerate all
the sixteenth century country houses still remaining in Salop

Benthall, near Broseley, and Belswardine date from
the first half of the century; Madeley Court and Elsich
from about the middle ; and Acton Scott, Upton Cressett,
Condover, Shipton, and Wilderhope from the close. Park
Hall is a magnificent example of a half-timbered front of
1555, and Marrington Hall of 1595. The house at Bridg-
north where Bishop Percy was bom in 1728 bears the
date 1580, and there is a fine half-timbered house at
Dunvall of about the same date.

Condover Hall is the finest of the stone houses of this
date in the county. It was built between 1586 and 1598,
and is a very perfect specimen of the time.

The brick mansion of Lutwyche Hall has the date
1 58 1, but is later in some details than Condover. Like
Orleton, near Wellington, it bears considerable traces of
alterations and additions of the eighteenth century.

The White Hall, near Shrewsbury, already alluded to,

34B M EifOsiALs cy Old SKSopsimtE

WM in process of boildidS in 'i578» when Ridiard Prince
bought fifteen hundred oak trees from Acton Soott for
use in its construction*

Morelon Coibet* now .onty a pictttresquc niin» besis
the date 1578 in one places but has traces of building of
both earlier and later years. Boaoobel, wdl known fsom
its aasodatioils with Charles IL* was built at tbe doae of
die sixteenth century or the veiy beginning of the seven-
teendi ; and Plowden Hall is about the same date. In
both houses hiding^daces were ddiberatety phnned tint
they might 9Bosd rdfuge to the persecuted Roman priests
whom Elisabethan law pronounced guil^ of high treann
since the Pope had declared the Queen to be i ltegitiniat e ,
and a usurper of the English throne:

In the days when banks did not exist and dftere wem
"few opportunities for investing money, provision was often
made for secret cupboards, and these are to be found it*
smaller houses of this date quite as frequently as in larger
ones.

The number of Elizabethan farm-houses scattered ove:^
the county is a striking witness to the prosperity of the
country under "Good Queen Bess/' and several of these
contain cupboards in unexpected places, where valuables
could be stored. Many of these houses were built by
the owners of small estates for their own use, as, fbr
instance, Alderton, near Shrawardine, the house of the
Heylins, and later of the Wingfields, where some panel-
ling bears the date 1591. Moat Hall, once the home oi
the Berrington family, is a picturesque example of a
smaller manor-house, and contains some good panelling.

In the sixteenth century the era of church-building had
passed, and, except some towers, and a few windows
inserted to give the light required by the service of the
English Prayer-book, our churches bear few marks of that
period The tower of Wroxeter Church is remarkable as
having been built after the dissolution of the Abbey of

250 Memorials of Old Shropshire

and one at Woodhouse, near Cleobury Mortimer, were
swept away, and more than one foundation for the poor
and infirm shared the same fate.

During the concluding years of the century a few
churches received alterations and additions. The chancel
of the little church of Shipton was built in 1589 ; and the
roof of Shif nal Church was renewed after a disastrous fire
in 1591. Several early parish books record work done to
churches at this period, but it seems generally to have
consisted of whitewashing or painting texts on the waD&

The Uttle half-timbered church of Halston is of later
date, and of seventeenth rather than sixteenth century
work.

The seventeenth century saw a change in the fashion
of building. The early part connects itself with the time
of Elizabeth, and the houses of that date are very similar
to those of the sixteenth century; whilst those built in
the time of returned prosperity after the Civil Wars are
of the comfortable solid red-brick type familiar through-
out the eighteenth century.

Habberley Hall, Greet Court, and Stanwardine, near
Baschurch, are apparently of the early part of the seven-
teenth century. Whitton Hall, near Ludlow, is said to
date from this century, but it embodies much earlier work ;
as does also Plash Hall, which was re-modelled by Judge
William Leighton, who died in 1607. Some part of
Stokesay Castle bears traces of the time when Lord Craven
is said to have prepared it as a retreat for the " Queen
of Hearts," the widowed Countess Palatine, daughter of
James I.

Ludstone Hall, dated 1607, is practically Elizabethan
in style. Loton, built partly in 1630, shows a many-gabled
garden front, somewhat similar to Chetwynd, where
Charles I. stayed in 1645. Pool Hall, near Alveley, shows
the same picturesque gables at the back, though the front
is eighteenth century work. High Ercall, built in 1608,
also shows a gabled front Braggington, near Alberbury,

Architectural Story 251

bears the date 1674 on its porch, but its style and plan
are of the early sevpnteetfth century ; and Petsey, near
Hodnet, which is dated 1634, seems not to be aH of one
date.

There was little building done during the Common-
wealth, either of private or public edifices, excepting in
a few cases in the towns.

The resources of the Royalists and Parliamentarians
alike were exhausted by the war, and though much
property changed hands, the new owners were generally
content with the houses of their predecessors. Gough, in
his History of Middle, mentions that Sir Vincent Corbet
was so heavily fined for his loyalty to the King that he
sold several lands, among them a very good farm at Preston
Brockhurst, which was bought by "Mr. Wingfield, of
Shrewsbury, who pulled down the hall and built there a
fair hall of freestone." This house still stands, and shows
that the traditions of the Elizabethan builders were still
followed.

The Old Schools (now the Free Library) at Shrews-
bury were partially built in 161 7, and finished about 1630 ;
and the house built at Grinshill as a country school-house
in time of plague of any kind was erected about 1624, but
they are later in general feeling than many buildings of
similar date.

The Town Hall of Bridgnorth was rebuilt during the
Commonwealth to replace the one destroyed in the siege,
which had stood outside the walls of the town. The
burgesses, being much impoverished by the wars, did the
work as economically as possible, and bought the materials
of an old bam to help them in their building, which, after
four years' work, was finished in 1652.

There was a considerable amount of church-building
daring the seventeenth century, and in Shropshire gener-
ally the forms of the Gothic builders were retained
throughout the period Some of the work might be taken
for that of the fourteenth century until the shiJlo^n^ess

353 MlMOSIALS OF OLD SHROPSIiOtE

of the mooldiogB and the comparative thiimfiaii^ the
mAlb it oodoed

Langley ChapeL near Acton BumeUt has fittings of the
eariy seventeenth century, and possibly the fabric of die
building is also of late date. The Communion TaUe is
broiq[ht out from the east wall, and all round is a seat
ind a desk for kneeling. The reading pev is also of
curious design, with a wooden canopy.

The west window of Church Stretton Church was given
in 1619 by lix%, Jane Norton, who in her will in 1640 kft
a rent for keeping in repair the ** west windowe and seats
adjoyning in the west end of the Churdie of Stretton
(which it pleased GOD to give me leave to build).*'

Many churches possess woodwork of this century, but
often only in the form of pews, which have of necessity
given way to seats more fitted for worship and less for
somnolence.

There are a goodly number of Jacobean pulpits, some
exceedingly well carved and all interesting. Great Ness
has Altar table and rails of this date, and Pitchford has an
interesting pulpit and pews. The chancel of Bromfield
has a wonderful painted plaster ceiling of 1672 covered
with coats of arms of almost unique desiga

The Civil Wars brought partial ruin to several
churches, as, for instance. High Ercall, which now consists
of seventeenth century walls built between 165 7- 1662 to
fit in with arcades of twelfth century work, with a good
seventeenth century tower. Shrawardine was ruined
during the siege of the neighbouring castle, and shows
patched walls and a roof of 1650. Stokesay Church had
a similar experience, and was partially rebuilt in 1654, and
apparently finished some ten years later.

The north aisle of St Mary's, Shrewsbury, was rebuilt
during the Commonwealth on the old Gothic lines, but
not on the same foundations as the mediaeval aisle.

The nave and tower of Condover Church are perhaps
the finest example of seventeenth centiuy church-building

Architectural Story 353

in Salofi. They date from 1661, when they were erected
on the site of the earlier nave and north aisle which fell
down in November, i66a The oak roof of great span
is a remaiicable feature, and the whole building recalls a
college hall rather than an ecclesiastical building. The
tower was finished a few years later than the nave, though
its architectural features are those of the fourteenth
century.

The little church of Benthall, built in 1667 to replace
the church nearer the hall destroyed in the Civil Wars,
has less Gothic feeling than the work at Condover, and
the quaint little church of Minsterley, dating from the
close of the seventeenth or early years of the eighteenth
century, is wholly Renaissance in character.

After the Revolution, when the country settled down
and prosperity returned to the leading families, the fashion
of houses had changed, and men followed the lines of the
formal Dutch style.

The Isle, near Shrewsbury, shows well the sequence of
building that took place in the case of many manor-
houses. There is there the moated site of the first house,
built in a strong position overlooking the Severn, with
the little chapel beside it ; then on another site was the
unfortified Elizabethan house, with its half-timbered
gables; and, later, beside this was built about 1680 the
present many-windowed red-brick house, all straight lines,
with long panelled rooms, and far more bedroom
accommodation than was considered necessary in the
sixteenth century, when ideas on the subject were still, to
modem thought, somewhat primitive.

Shavington, built about 1679, is another house more
roomy than beautiful; and Aldenham, almost rebuilt in
1697, has small pretensions to beauty; but Longnor,
built by Sir Richard Corbet in 1688, is of pictiu-esque
design ; while Court of Hill, near Ludlow, and Halston,
once the home of Jack Mytton, have the charm of solidity
and comfort Cound HaU, which bears the date 1706, is

254 Memorials of Old Shropshire

of very similar design, and an equally substantial buildii^.
Fulton Hall, near Wem, though it bears the date of 1681,
is of earlier design as a whole, and the date probably
refers simply to the elaborate doorway.

Shrewsbury and Ludlow and the other Shropshire
towns possess good examples of substantial houses of the
end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth
centuries, and there are several smaller country houses of
this date, such as Whitton, near Westbury, which have all
the comfort that modem owners can wish. Sometimes^ as
at Fitz Manor, the pleasant, well-lighted panelled rooms
have been added to the substantial, but rather cramped,
building of earlier date; and at Berrington the fine half-
timbered Hall near the church has a seventeenth century
brick addition at the side.

There is little break in general style between the work
of the late seventeenth and the early eighteenth centuries.
Hardwick, near Ellesmere, built in 1733, Sandford in
1720, Davenport in 1727 (in the place of the old house of
Hallon), Kinlet in 1729, the Lodge (near Ludlow) in 1721,
Buntingsdale in 1731, and Berwick (near Shrewsbury)
about 1740, are all good examples of the time adapted to
the requirements of our present everyday life. There are
less notable houses of the same date in every part of the
county, like Ford House and several houses in Shrewsbury
and the other towns, with stately oak staircases and
pleasant panelled rooms.

Henley, near Ludlow, dates from 1772; Hatton
Grange, near Shifnal, from some twenty years earlier;
Leighton Hall, near Ironbridge, from 1778, and Lyth-
wood from 1782. Attingham and Brogyntyn are stately
classic houses of the close of the eighteenth century, and
Tong Castle, as it now stands, is of similar date.

The eighteenth century was in its own way an era of
church-building. Whitchurch Church is a dignified and
well-proportioned building of about 17 10. Fitz is a good
specimen of brickwork of 172 1, and Leighton an example

Architectural Story 255

of Georgian work of about 17 16, following the lines of
an earlier church. Great Solas was finished in 1729, and
Moreton Say was cased with brick somewhat later. In
1734 briefs were issued for the re-building of the churches
of Longdon-on-Tem and Eyton-upon-the-Wild-Moors.
Montford Church was rebuilt in 1736, and Petton in 1727,
though it contains a pulpit bearing the date 1635.
Preston-on-the-Wild-Moors Church, as well as the
adjacent hospital for aged women, both date from the
first half of the eighteenth century. Indeed there is
hardly a church remaining in the county that does not
bear some trace of this century either in its fabric or its
fittings; but modem hands have swept away the coved
ceilings, baize-lined pews, and much plaster and white-
wash. The " Churchwarden ** windows have given place
to restorations of mediaeval work, and the " three-deckers "
are now things of the past

The close of the century was a terrible time of
vandalism. Shrewsbury had seen the nave of St Julian's
Church rebuilt in 1749 on the ground that the old church
had become ruinous; and in 1798 it saw the fall of the
central tower of old St Chad's and the demolition of the
ruins. This was followed by the rebuilding of
St Alkmund's on the ground of economy, urged by not
disinterested parishioners.

St Mary Magdalen's, Bridgnorth, was rebuilt in 1792
after a design of Telford, the engineer ; and the church of
Wellington in 1790; while in 1796 the church where the
saintly Fletcher of Madeley preached was rejdaced by the
present edifice.

There were a large number of N&nconformist chapels
licensed in the second half of the eighteenth century, but
as a rule their architecture was of a very sim^de descrip-
tion, and several have been replaced in modem times by
more ambitious edifices.

A vivid picture of the treatment to which old churches

256' If dioBULs OF Old Shropshibk

woe subjected by eighteenth oentmy builden may be
gmthered from the histoiy of Bfarket Drayton. At a
vestiy meeting in 1786 "it was agxeed to remove the
roofs of the aisles and cover tiiem with slates ; to take
down the west end of the soqA aisle, and as much of the
south wan as was between the west end and the south
porch, and to raise die waUs four feet A large doorway
was made in the tower, and two smaller ones at the east
end ; the north and south pordies were taken down and
ihe doorways waUed up^ and sixteen new windows of
uniform design inserted.** The transformation into blank
ugliness can be imagined without the aid of the sketches
furnished to demonstrate the " improvement**

The early nineteenth century saw less htkk work and
more stone, or, failing stone, stucca

Willey Hall was built about 181 5, and Onslow about
1820, and there are many smaller houses of about die
same date. Sundome Castle and Apley Park are examples
of the begimiing of the revival of Gothic ideas, and
Rowton Castle has work of the same period added to
earlier building.

There was little change in style till quite modem days,
which do not come within the scope of this sketch, and
antiquaries of the future will find considerable difficulty in
assigning a date to much nineteenth century building.
Netley Hall, for instance, built in 1857, might well be dated
some fifty years earlier from its general design.

Churdi-building sank to its lowest ebb about 181 5.
The early eighteenth century buildings had been honest
brickwork, but much of the early nineteenth was stucco
and plaster, which fell out of repair almost in the lifetime
of its builders. About 1830 begsm a feeling after mediaeval
ideals, but it was several years before it really bore
fruit ; and its result is too modem to come into a paper
on " Old Shropshire."

H. M. AUDEN.

ILLUSTRIOUS SALOPIANS

By the Editor

I HIS is a difficult chapter to write. The difficulty
does not arise from want of material, either as
regards the number of those whose doings might
claim insertion, or as regards the details of their
lives. It lies in the selection of those most suitable for
the purposes of the book. A large number of Illustrious
Salopians have been already mentioned incidentally in the
course of the volume, and it would be easy to mention
many more names of men distinguished in almost every
walk of life, but the alternative would be either to
conduct the reader through a valley of dry bones, or to
extend the chapter to an excessive length. All that can
be done is to point out various directions in which men
of the county have specially distinguished themselves,
giving more in detail the careers of those who appear
specially representative.

To begin with pursuits in which Salopians have
achieved least distinction, it must be confessed that in
what are known as the Fine Arts those who have attained
eminence are not very numerous. In the latter half of
the eighteenth century two painters, father and son,
attained considerable local celebrity, but were not much
known outside of the county. These were James Bowen,
who died in 1774, and John, his son, who died in 1832.
Views of Shrewsbury from their hands are among Uie
most interesting and valuable ot the old engravings of
the town; and the painters merit a brief notice here
from the fact that both of them were antiquaries as well
as painters, the father being probably the real author of

«57
S

258 Memorials of Old Shropshire

the History of Shrewsbury published in 1779 under the
name of PhiUips.

Contemporary with the younger Bowen was a Shrop-
shire painter more widely known, but now largely
forgotten. This was William Owen, bom in 1769. In
his earlier life he was encouraged by the favourable notice
of Sir Joshua Reynolds^ and he became R.A. in 1806. In
181 3 he was appointed principal portrait-painter to the
Prince Regent, who offered him knighthood He died
in 1824.

Another artist of the same name, better known locally,
flourished a little later. This was the Rev. Edward Pryce
Owen, son of Archdeacon Hugh Owen, one of the authors
of Owen and Blakewa/s History of Shrewsbury. Bom in
1788, and educated at Cambridge, Ke was for some years
Vicar of Wellington, Salop. Some of his etchings adom
the History just mentioned, and the volume containing the
complete collection commands a considerable price.

Probably, however, the best-known of Shropshire
artists is John Boydell, whose long life (17 19- 1804) almost
coincided with the eighteenth century. Bom at Stanton-
on-Hine-Heath, near Wem, he forsook the business of
land-surveying, for which he was originally intended, and
apprenticed himself to an engraver in London. About
the middle of the century he set up as an engraver and
print-seller on his own account, and met with such success
that he not only gained a considerable fortune, but by
his patronage of others gave a great stimulus to art In
1782 he became an alderman of the city of London, and
after being elected a sheriff three years later, became Lord
Mayor in 1790. His desire, however, to encourage art, and
his previous success in that direction, led him to undertake
a work which was beyond his powers. He commissioned
the leading artists of the time to paint pictures illustrating
the works of Shakespeare, and built a Shakespeare Gallery
for their exhibition. The engravings were used in a fine
edition of the Dramatist, published in 1 802 ; but the
expense which Boydell had incurred in his scheme was

Illustrious Salopians 259

enormous^ and as the convulsions on the G>ntinent
following the French Revolution had largely destroyed
his other business, he found himself in financial difficulties.
To escape from these he applied to the Government for
permission to dispose of his property by means of a lottery.
Permission was granted, but before it was carried out the
old man died, on December 12th, 1804, at the age of
eighty-five years, leaving a character for generosity in the
use of his wealth of which Salopians may well be proud.

If we turn to the sister art of music, it must be
confessed that the record is a very meagre one. Salopians,
as contrasted with the inhabitants of many other English
counties, as well as the Welsh just over the border, are
not a musical race, and the county has produced few
musicians of any eminence. Perhaps the most dis-
tinguished was Henry John Gauntlett, and he lived in
comparatively recent times. His father, who was Vicar
of Olney, was a friend of Rowland Hill, and the musician
was bom at Wellington, Salop, in 1805. He filled in
succession the post of organist at more than one well-
known church in London, and edited various musical
works. Several of his hymn tunes are still popular, and
find a place in most collections. He died in 1876.

An earlier and better known Shropshire musician is
Dr. Charles Bumey, father of Madame D'Arblay, and
author of the History of Music. He was bom in 1726 at
Shrewsbury, where the entry of his baptism is to be found
as "Charles Macbumy" in the Register Book of
St Mary's parish. He spent most of his childhood at
Condover, but received his earlier musical education partly
in Chester and partly in Shrewsbury, completing it in
London under Dr. Ame. Fcht some years he was organist
at King's Lynn, but he afterwards filled a similar post at
Chelsea Hospital, where he died in 1814. He was author
of various books of travels, but his most important work
was the History of Music, which occupied several years in
publication, and is still a standard work

When we tum to poetry, the county has a better record

26o Memorials of Old Shropshire

to ahow. Allusion has already been made to three Shrop-
shire poets of mediaeval times, John Audelay, John Mirk,
and William Langland; and when we oome to the
sixteenth century we encounter another who was not only
bom in the county, but made it the subject of his verses.
It would be absturd to call Thomas Qiurchyard a great
poet, for some of his efiEusions are bald to the last degree ;
but he is worthy of mention as one who was honoured with
the notice of Spenser, though he blamed him for writing
too mudi. Bom in 1520 at Shrewsbury, the eighty-four
years of his life were full of ups and downs, a con-
siderable portion being spent as a soldier of fortune,
in which capacity he saw service in most of the wars of
the time. He appears to have been a restless spirit, who
was constant to scarcely anything except the use of his
pen, by ^ich he produced more than sixty separate
books, varying in length from pamphlets to quarto volumes,
some in prose and some in verse. The principal local
allusions are to be found in his Worthines of Wales,
published in 1587, and dedicated to Queen Elizabeth. It
contains at considerable length a description of the streets
and buildings of Shrewsbury, and, apart from poetry, is
valuable as a contemporary record^ The general level
of his poetry may be illustrated from another volume,
published eight years earlier, entitled the Miserie of
Flaunders, Calamitie of Fraunce, Misfortune of Portugall,
Unquietnes of Irelande, Troubles of Scotlande^ and The
Blessed State of England. Apropos to the last item
he says : —

This He is Kimell of the nutte
And those that neare us dwell,

Our forraine neighbours rounde about,
I count them but the shell.

With this excellent sentiment he may be left to the reader
to study for himself.

Passing to the seventeenth century, we find Shropshire

1 Cf. the author's Shrewsbury^ pp. 249-252.

Illustrious Salopians 261

producing better poetry but much worse sentiment
William Wycherley, bom at The Clive, near Wem, about
1640, was one of tJie dramatists of the Restoration period,
and shared their faults to the fulL Intended for the law
and educated at Oxford, he forsook his profession at an
early period and became a man about town, where his
ready wit and handsome person secured him success ; but
his career was by no means one for imitation. He married
a young widow, the Countess of Drogheda, but the
marris^e was unhappy, and after her death he fell into
pecuniary difficulties, and spent some years in the Fleet
{Hrisoa He wrote four comedies, of which The Plain
Dealer was the last and best ; and it is said that James II.,
having seen this, was so pleased that he paid his debts
and gave him a pension. He died in 1704. His plays
were very popular in their day ; but, though clever, they
are artificial in their view of life, and to a modem reader
are stupid as well as coarse — comedies of manners, and
those manners bad

Wycherley was contemporary with Farquhar, who was
so far connected with Shropshire that he wrote his play
of The Recruiting Oficer while staying at Shrewsbury;
but he was also contemporary with another writer who,
like himself, was probably Salopian bom. This was
Thomas, or, as he was usually called, Tom Brown. He
was bom near Shifnal in 1663, and educated at Newport
Grammar School, from which he passed in 1678 to Christ
Church, Oxford. Here he soon fell into irregular habits,
and was threatened with expulsion by the Dean, Dr. Fell,
but is said to have been spared in consequence of his
epigram :

I do not love thee, Dr. Fell,
The reason why I cannot tell ;
But this I know, and know full well,
I do not love thee. Dr. Fell.

He left Oxford, however, without a degree, and betook
himself to London to live by his pen. His writings

262 Memorials of Old Shropshke

cover a laige fidd both of prose and verse, and show not
only wit, but learning. They are, however, everywhere
tainted with indecency and scurrility. There were few
of his contemporary writers whom he did not lampoon,
including Dryden, Sherlock, and the authors of the old
version of the Psalms, Stemhold and Hopkins. His
personal life was on a par with his vnritings, much of his
time being spent in a low tavern in The Minories ; but on
his death, in the same year as that of Wycherley, he was
honoured with a burial in the cloisters of Westminster
Abbey.

We pass over about half a century and we come to
another Salopian poet, inferior indeed in genius to those
already mentioned, but of much higher moral character.
This was Ambrose Phillips, who was a friend of Addison,
and who provoked the enmity of Pope. The entry of his
baptism is to be found in the Register Book of
St. Alkmund's Church, Shrewsbury, under the date
October gth, 1674, and he was educated at Shrewsbury
School, passing from thence to St John's College,
Cambridge. He afterwards spent some years in Ireland,
and sat as member for Armagh in the Irish Parliament
He died in 1748. After the fashion of his age he wrote
Pastorals, whose shepherds and shepherdesses were abso-
lutely unreal ; but though his works are wholly neglected
now, there is genuine poetical feeling to be found in them.
Some of his other poems, addressed to all sorts of people
in the way of compliment, provoked a considerable amount
of ridicule from some of his contemporaries, particularly
Pope, and they procured for him a nick-name which has
become a recognized English word — namely, "Namby
Pamby."

Another writer of the Pastoral School who was con-
temporary with Ambrose Phillips, but slightly younger,
belonged to old Shropshire, though he could not be claimed
as Salopian if he were living now. It has been already
mentioned in connection with the Abbey of Halesowen

Illustrious Salopians 263

that it stood in a detached portion ot this county now
transferred to Worcestershire. In the same parish was a
smaU estate known as " The Leasowes," and here, in 1714,
was bom WiUiam Shenstone. The estate belonged to
his father, and in due time descended to himself. Here
he spent his life, which he devoted mainly to laying out
and improving its grounds. In the ponderous words of
Johnson, he made it his employment "to point his
prospects, to diversify his surface, to entangle his walks,
and to wind his waters, which he did with such judgment
and fancy as made his little domain the envy of the
great and the admiration of the skilful : a place to be visited
by travellers and copied by strangers." " The Leasowes "
became celebrated, and in all the old Gazetteers of
Shropshire, whatever else is omitted, the reader may
be sure of finding several pages devoted to the description
of Shenstone's landscape garden. He is probably known
even now quite as much by his ornamental grounds as by
his poems or his essays ; but his Schoolmistress, in which
he describes his own early experiences, is still sometimes
read In his later years his excessive expenditure on his
estate brought him into pecuniary difficulties, and he sank
into a disai^K)inted and querulous old man. He died in

1763.

Space will not permit more than a menticm of the
poetry of Bishop Heber, who was Rector of Hodnet before
he became Bishop of Calcutta. His sudden death in
India in 1826 cut short a career that had already yielded
good fruit and was still full of promise. Some of his
hymns are among the most popular in the language.

Allusion should also be made, in passing, to J. F. M.
Dovaston, who was almost entirely identified with the
county, and was the author of a volume of poetry.
Fits Gwarine and other Poems, as well as other works
which were extensively known in their day, and contain
many local allusions. He inherited a small estate at West
Felton from his father, who had been a friend of

264 Memorials of Old Shropshire

Shcnstone, and here he found his happiness in the study
of nature, and literature associated with it, till his death in
1854. One other poet demands mention — namely, John
Moultrie, bom at Cleobury Mortimer in 1799, where his
father was Vicar. He was educated at Eton, and after
his ordinaticm became Rector of Rugby, a post he filled
for many years, dying in 1874. His poems are largely
autobiographical, and contain many local allusions. Some
will recognize, for example, his description of Cleobury
Mortimer :

Tranquil town: —
Grey, venerable church with steeple white
Up tapering to the dim and distant sky —
Church in whose gothic aisles I first beheld
And joined, as childhood could, the solemn formi
Of Christian worship.

In the sister art of the actor, Shropshire also makes
but a poor show. It is said, indeed, that Will Sunmners,
the jester of Henry VIII., was a Shropshire man ; but
whether this were so or not, the county certainly produced
a httle later one of the first who distinguished himself in
the acting of low comedy. This was Dick Tarleton, a
native of Condover, who added to his natural possession
of a strong comic vein the attraction of a comic expression,
enhanced by a broken nose. He was introduced to the
Court by one of the servants of the Earl of Leicester,
whose notice he had attracted while engaged in feeding
his father's pigs ; and he was appointed by Queen
Elizabeth one of her twelve special players, whose duty
it was to amuse Her Majesty, especially during meals. He
became a great favourite, and, in the words of Fuller,
" when the Queen was serious and out of good humour, he
could undumpish her at his pleasure. In a word, he told
the Queen more of her faults than most of her chaplains ;
and cured her melancholy more than all her physicians."
For some time he kept a tavern in Gracechurch Street,
performing from time to time at the Curtain Theatre,

Illustrious Salopians 265

Shoreditch. He died suddenly — apparently of the plague
— in 1588, and was buried at Shoreditch Church.

The only Salopian who achieved distinction in tragedy
belongs to more modem times, William Henry West Betty,
familiarly known as the " Young Roscius," who was bom
at Shrewsbury in 1791. His popularity arose from his
extreme youth, for he made his first appearance as an
actor before he was twelve. His characters were mostly
heroic, induding Hamlet, Macbeth, and other creations
of Shakespeare ; and for a while the fashionable world ran
after him. After a retirement of some years he returned
to the stage, but his success as a man was not great, and
in 1824 he went back into private life, enjoying the
fortune he had made till his death in 1874 at the age of
eighty-two years.

When we turn to the record of distinguished ecclesias-
tics we find that Shropshire has contributed its full share.
Mention has already been made of Reginald Heber, Bishop
of Calcutta, and alongside of him we may place Thomas
Percy, Bishop of Dromore, the lifelong friend of the
Blakeways, and author of the Reliques of Ancient English
Poetry y who was bom in 1729 at a house in Bridgnorth,
which still remains a fine specimen of half-timbered work.
Samuel Butler, the reviver of Shrewsbury School at the
beginning of the last century, became Bishop of Lichfield
in his later days, and at a more recent period Bishop
William Walsham How maintained the honour of the
county by his work in the East of London and afterwards
at Wakefield

But these only form the concluding links of a long
chain, for the beginning of which we must go back to
mediaeval times. Perhaps the greatest ecclesiastic whom
Shropshire has produced was Robert Bumell, the
friend and Chancellor of Edward L, who was bom
at Acton BumeU in the early part of the thirteenth
century. His family had hitherto occupied no distin-
guished position, but it was his lifelong endeavour to

266 Memorials c^ Old Shropshire

benefit both his belongings and the place of his birth.
The great legislative acts of Edward's reign owed
much to Bumell, and the friendship between them
subsisted unbroken till the Chancellor's death in 1292.
The King procured his appointment to the See of Bath
and Wells in 1275, and he used his best endeavours to
proctue his elevation to Canterbury ; but if we may trust
the contemporary chroniclers, Bumell's personal character
was not free from reproach, and the Pope refused the
King's request Allusion has already been made to the
important Parliament which was held at Acton BumeD in
1283, and the castellated mansion which he erected for
himself. It was his intention to raise his native village to
the dignity of a market town, and though this intention
did not prove successful, the church in particular xemains
a monument both of his interest in the place and his taste
as an ecclesiastical builder. It is noteworthy also
that half a century or so later Shropshire gave another
bishop to Bath and Wells. Ralph of Shrewsbury,
Chancellor of Oxford University, was consecrated to
that see in 1329, and distinguished himself by reforming
the abuses he found prevailing. Those acquainted with
the Episcopal Palace at Wells will remember marks of
the handiwork both of him and of Bishop Robert BumelL

Passing over a couple of centuries, we come to another
statesman bishop, who has been already mentioned in
another connection — namely, Rowland Lee, who was not
only Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, but, as President
of the Court of the Marches from 1534 to 1543, did more
than any of his predecessors in that office to suppress the
disorders which prevailed on the Welsh border. He died
at Shrewsbury in the College of St. Chad, of which his
brother was dean at the time, and his remains were laid
to rest in that church.

Bishops in the next century who enjoyed considerable
reputation in their own day, though now hardly remembered
outside the circle of their descendants, were: John

Illustrious Salopians

267

Bridgeman, chaplain to James I., appointed Bishop of
Chester in 1619, a rigid opponent of the prevailing
Puritanism; and his contemporary, John Hanmer, also
chaplain to the King» who was Bishop of St Asaph
from 1624 till his death, and who rests in the churdi-
yard at Selattyn ; while to these might be added a con-
siderable roll of men like Baxter and Fletcher, already
mentioned, who, without attaining high ecclesiastical

B^^^

KMR

/y#iM mm]

Bromfikld Priory.

[Old EHfrmvin^.

dignity, have achieved personal distinction, both in the
ranks of the Church and of Nonconformity.

When we turn from the arts of peace to that of war
we have an array, not indeed large in number, but very
distinguished — ^men whose names will live as long as there
is any record of England's past The record of Salopian
valour and generalship might indeed commence with the
great Earl Roger himself, who led the right wing of the
Conqueror's army at Hastings, but we pass to another
great Earl of Shrewsbury, belonging to- a different and

268 Memorials of Old Shropshire

later creation, but equally worthy of the title. John
Talbot, of Blackmere, in the parish of Whitchurch, was
one of the most conspicuous figures of the first half of
the fifteenth century. At the very beginning of that
century he saw service against the Welsh, and in 1414 he
was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, a post ^ich he also
filled again at a later period It was, however, in France
that his main work as a military leader was done. It
was the reign of Henry VL, the time when Joan of Arc
was reviving the hopes of the French, and Talbot had the
difficult work of sustaining the English power against her.
He took part in all the battles of the period, and in that
of Patay, in 1429, he was wounded and taken prisoner.
In 1 43 1, however, he was exchanged, and the following
years witnessed a series of brilliant exploits on his part
including the capture of Harfleur and the recovery of a
large French district For this he was made Constable of
France and Earl of Shrewsbury, or rather, strictly speak-
ing, Earl of Salop, in 1442. After an interval spent in
Ireland, he was again engaged in Normandy, and finally,
at the age of eighty, he was despatched to the South of
France to oppose the French in Aquitaine. The rest of
the story cannot be better told than in the quaint words
of Fuller : —

This is that terrible Talbot so famous for his sword, or rather whose
sword was so famous for his arm that used it : a sword with bad Latio
upon it (Sum Talboti pro vincere inimicos meos) but good steel within
it, which constantly conquered where it came, insomuch that the bare
fame of his approach frighted the French from the siege of Bordeaux.
Being victorious for twenty-four years together, success failed him at
last, charging the enemy near Castilion on unequal terms, when he with
his son the Lord Lisle were slain with a shot, July, 1453. Henceforward
Ave may say "Good-night to the English in France," whose victories were
buried with the body of this Earl, and his body interred at Whitechuich
in this county. 1

Students of Shakespeare will remember how promi-
nently Talbot figures as one of the principal characters of
Henry VL, part i, and how the dramatist preserves the

1 Fuller's Worthies (181 1 edition), vol. ii., p. 260.

Illustrious Salopians 269

tradition which is said still to exist in France, that he was
so much feared "that with his name the mothers still
their babes." In that play indeed Shakespeare contrives
to comprehend the larger portion of his life and exploits
up to the time when he and his son fell together at
Chatillon. His connection with Shropshire did pot end
with his life. After the battle his heart was separately
embalmed, and his remains were buried at Rouen, but
were afterwards brought to his native Whitchurch,
where his heart was interred within the porch, and
his body within the chancel of the church. When
wounded years before at the Battle of Patay, he
had charged his bodyguard of Whitchurch men to
bury him in the porch of their church, "that as they
had stood over his body and defended it while living,
they and their children should walk over it when dead.''
The spirit of this injunction was faithfully carried out,
though not for a considerable interval after his death ; but
it was reserved for modem times to clear up several
doubtful points. In 1874 it had become necessary to
repair the tomb in the chancel, when two or three interest-
ing discoveries were made. His bones were found
reverently cared for in the original box in which they
had been brought from Rouen, but an examination of
the skull verified the statement of Holinshed that being
first wounded by a shot he was despatched by a blow from
a battle-axe while lying prostrate. The skull showed a
wound exactly answering this description ; but it brought
to light another incident that is pathetic in view of his
greatness while living. Within the hoDow where his brain
had throbbed a church mouse at some distant period had
made her nest, and the mummified remains of herself and
her offspring were found close by. One is irresistibly
reminded of Hamlet's reflection over the skull of Yorick —
•* To what base uses may we return, Horatio."^

1 r/. Shrofishirt Artlutotogical S0cUtys TVamactiatts^ toK viii., ist fcries,
p. 413* "Tmlbot'i Tomb."

2;o Memorials of Old Shropshire

But we must hasten on. Leaving untouched the
leaders who distinguished themselves on both sides in the
Qvil War — ^men like Francis Lord Newport and Sir
Francis Ottley, of the King's party, and General Myttcm
who belonged to the Parliamentarians — ^we come in the
second half of the seventeenth century to the only seaman
of distinction whom Shropshire appears to have produced.
This was Vice- Admiral Benbow, bom at Shrewsbury about
1653. Running away from home, he served for a while
in the merchant service, and then in the navy. Emi^o)^
first against the French in the Channel, he was afterwards
sent in conmiand of a Fleet to the West Indies. Here, in
a running engagement with the French Admiral, he received
a wound of which he died at Jamaica, November 2nd, 1702.

Something less than a quarter of a century after
Benbow disappeared from tfie scene another military
genius was bom who must always rank among the greatest
of Shropshire's sons. Robert Clive, bora at the Styche,
near Market Drayton, was an unmanageable boy for whom
his friends were glad to obtain a writership under the East
India Company which took him to that country. It was
a critical time, when it hung in the balance whether India
should pass into the hands of the English or their rivals
the French. It was Clive who determined the question,
first by his military genius and then by his administrative
ability. It is not necessary to approve every act for which
he was responsible in order to recognize his greatness. It
was after his crowning victory at Plassey that he sp)ent
some time in England, during which he lived at Condover
and became Member of Parliament for Shrewsbury. In
the latter part of his career in India his resolute reform of
abuses brought him into great unpopularity, and he was
subjected to an enquiry before the House of Commons
Already shattered in health, both of mind and body, his
physical ailments and the opium which he took to allay
them proved too much for his mental balance, and he died
by his own hand in 1 774.

Illustrious Salopians 271

One other Saloi^an General must be mentioned,
namely, Rowland, first Lord Hill of Hawkstone, who was
bom two years before Clive's death. He was the Duke
of Wellington's great friend and helper, serving under him
in th& Peninsular War between 1808 and 1814, and at the
Battle of Waterloo, leading the brigade which made the
victory complete by sweeping the Old Guard of Napoleon
o£F the field. His exploits were conmiemorated at the
time by what is still a famfliar object to his fellow
Salopians — the column at the top of the Abbey Foregate,
Shrewsbury, commenced in 18 14 and completed on June
18th, 1 8 16, the first anniversary of Waterloo. Sir Her-
bert Edwaides, the hero of Moultan, who died in 1868,
belongs to modem days.

Enough has been said to show that the roll of illus-
trious Salopians of whom all Europe has taken note is
no sli^t one, but it is when we turn to the civil life of
our own country that we encounter the largest array of
alL Hulbert, in his Manual of Shropshire Biography,
quotes a MS. of the date 1734, from which it appears that
between the years 15 12 and 1632 no less than twenty-four
Salopians filled the ofiice of Lord Mayor of London ; and
whether this could be substantiated in every case or not, it
was certainly true in most, for they bear unmistakably
Shropshire names. The first was Sir Roger Acherley,
bom at Stanwardine, who attained the dignity in the year
just mentioned; but probably the best known of these
early Lord Mayors was Sir Rowland Hill, of Hodnet, who
was the first holder of the ofiBce who professed the
Reformed faith and filled the post in 1550. He was a
benefactor to the Churches of Hodnet and Stoke-on-Tem,
and his memory is kept alive in the county by the obelisk
surmounted by his statue, which stands in Hawkstone Park.
A later Salopian Lord Mayor who filled the ofi&ce after
the date of Hulbert's MS. has been akeady spoken of in
the person of John Boydell, the ei^javer, and the list
might, it is believed, be added to in still later times.

2/2 Memorials of Old Shropshire

The genius, however, of Salopians in the direction of
administrative capacity has shown itself beyond all others
in the region of the Law. In the Introduction to the
Visitation of Shropshire taken in 1623, recently published
by the Harleian Society, is a list of no less than twenty-
five Salopians who attained the highest l^;al positions, all
with one exception within the period covered by the
Visitation, and including three in each of the respective
families of Bromley, Townshend and Onslow. This is a
record which few other counties can pretend to rival, and it
must be remembered that the list is very far from coni{dete.
It does not, for example, include men like Bishop Rowland
Lee, already spoken of, and Sir William Leigfaton (buried
at Cardington), whose administrative work was done in
connection with the Court of the Welsh Marches; nor
does it include men who had not attained eminence till
after the date of the Visitation, such as Sir Job Charlton.
Sir Thomas Jones, Sir Thomas Powys and his brother Sir
Littleton, Sir Edward Lutwyche, and others, all of whom
became Judges ; and to mention only one of later date*
Lloyd Kenyon, first Baron of that name, who filled the
office of Chief Justice from 1788 to 1802.

Of those included in the Visitation three may be
specially mentioned on the ground that we owe to them,
directly or indirectly, the building of three of the historical
houses of the county. First, Sir Robert Brooke, of
Claverley, who was Chief Justice of the Common
Pleas from 1554 till his death in 1558, and who
had previously filled the office of Speaker, purchased
an estate at Madeley and erected on it the present
Madeley Court. The house is now shorn of its glory,
and its surroundings are grimy rather than sylvan,
but it is full of interest for the antiquary, both for
its architectural details and its historical connection with
the wanderings of Charles 11. after the Battle of Worcester.
Another Judge of the Common Pleas, some forty years
later, was Thomas Owen, who was nearly related to the

'■r

Illustrious Salopians 273

builder of Owen's Mansion in Shrewsbury. He repre-
sented the town in Parliament in 1584, and was also a
member of the Court of the Marches. About 1588 he
determined to build himself a house in his native county*
and having purchased a small property at Condover from
the Viner family, to which he added as opportunity
offered, he proceeded to erect the present Condover Hall.
About this time we have the record of a certain Free-
mason, Walter Hancock, being strongly recommended
to the Bailiffs of Shrewsbury by Sir Francis Newport
when they were about to build the Market Hall in the
Square ; and there is no doubt that the design for Judge
Owen's house came from Walter Hancock. It appears to
have been finished in 1594, but it is doubtful whether the
Judge himself ever lived there. He died in 1 598, leaving
the estate to his eldest son Sir Roger Owen, who was
himself learned in the law, and, as became a friend of
Camden, was also a keen antiquary. Condover Church
contains a monument to the memory of both father and
son, as well as a daughter and her husband, and there is
in Westminster Abbey a fine recumbent figure of the
judge. The house has been fortunate in the treatment it
has received in later generations, and still stands in its
pristine beauty as one of the most perfect Elizabethan
stone edifices in England.

The mention of Sir Francis Newport introduces us to
another family, of which no less than three members
attained high legal dignity, and to another historical house
now, alas! almost entirely passed away. Sir Thomas
Bromley, to whom there is a fine monument in Wroxeter
Church, was Chief Justice from 1553 to 1555. Sir Edward
was Baron of the Exchequer from 1609 to 1626, while a
second Sir Thomas had been Lord Chancellor from 1579
to 1587. On the Dissolution of the Monasteries Sir
Thomas Bromley the first purchased a portion of the
estate belonging to the Abbey of Shrewsbury, including
the house at Eyton-on-Scvem, in the Parish of Wroxeter,

274 Memorials of Old Shropshire

which was the pleasant summer residence of the Abbot
This property passed through his only daughter to her
son Francis Newport, ahready mantioned as the patron
of Walter Hancock. Sir Francis was a great builder, and
having apparently employed Hancock in building his
house at High Ercall — itself one of the historical mansions
of the coimty which figured largely in the Civil War-
he proceeded to add to the abbot's house at Eyton, making
it a more stately residence for himself. Whatever his
work, however, it has now passed away with the exception
of two turreted summer houses which flanked the terrace
walk, and clearly date from the beginning of the seven-
teenth century. Eyton, however, has another association
which should be mentioned The eccentric Lord Herbert
of Chirbury was bom there, as he tells us in his Auto-
biography, and he spent part of his childhood there in
company with his younger brother George, whose memory
is still kept green in all devout minds by his sacred poems
and his little treatise on the duties of a parish priest —
duties which he himself exemplified as Vicar of Bemerton,
near Salisbury.

It is time, hc^vever, to draw this chapter to a close
It might easily be extended to a volume from the quantity
of material at hand to draw upon, and it has been difficult
to compress without unduly sacrificing interest to brevit),
but enough has been said to show that the roll of illus-
trious Salopians, especially in practical life, is such as few
counties can rival, and enough to convince the Salopian of
the twentieth century that so far from belonging to a
county of which he must be ashamed, he has only to look
back on the centuries past to be stimulated to achieve dis-
tinction himself, in the consciousness that like the great
Apostle of Tarsus he is " a citizen of no mean city."

Thomas Auden.

INDEX

Abbey, C. J., Religitms Thought
in OldEngiish Krrftf quoted,

77
and Overton's English Church

in the Eighteenth Centurf

cited, 117
Abbeys, Five great Shropshire,

dissolved, 249
significance of, in early

times, 201
Abbot of Lilleshall's house in

Shrewsbury, 79
Shrewsbury : country house

at £yton-on-Sevem, 273-4
Abbots, Shropshire, summoned to

House of Peers, 90, 201
Act of Uniformity, 105, 107, no
Acton, Sir Edward, captured at

siege of Bridgnorth, 193
Sir Roger, a prominent

Lollard, 9c
Acton Bumell, 18, 28, 61, 240
Church, thirteenth century

building, 240
Scott, sixteenth century

house, 247-8
Actors of Shropshire, Famous,

264-5
Adams, Sir Thomas, founder of

Wem Grammar School, 229
William, benefactor of New-
port Grammar School,

230-1
Addenbrooke, John, headmaster

of Market Drayton Gram«

mar School, 227
Adderley, 57
Adeliza de Puiset, second wife

of Roger de Montgomery,

^, 70
Admiral Benbow, 270
Agricola of Tacitus quoted, 210
Alberbury, 62

Alberbury, old parish school at,

Church, timber roof, 245

Priory, 82

Albright Hussey Manor House,

defence of, 175-6.
Albrighton, its history and anti-
quities, 45, 46
Church, chancel fourteenth

century, 244
Alcock, John, Bishop of Ely, 144
Alcocke, Thomas, founder of

Donington Grammar

School, 22^, 230
Aldenham, rebuilt in seventeenth

century, 253
Alderton Estate, changed hands

after the Civil War, 194,

248
Alfred the Great : his law as to

the education of children,

211
Alveley, endowed elementary

school at, 232
Anarchy, Shropshire during the,

16
The, not without good

results, 16
Anchorites m Shropshire, 68
Ancient towns found mostly on

the borders of the county,

63
Andrews, Eusebius, Secretary to

Council of W^ar, 169
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle dted, I, 8,

10, II
Anne Boleyn, 100
Apley Castle captured by the Par-
liament, 178
retaliation by the Ro3ralistSy

178
Park utilized as block house

in Civil War, 169, 256

275

276

INDEX

Appleton, John, Methodist

currier, 116, 117
Aqualate Mere, The mermaid of,

130

Architectural Story of Shrop-
shire, 236-256
AroD, John, founder of Market
]3 ray ton Grammar School,

228
Armourer, Captain, Royalist

officer, 109
Arrests in Church, 185
Arroasian Canons, 78
Arrow, The Golden, of Pontes-

ford, 133
Arthur, Prince, son of Henrr

VII., holds Court at Lud-
low, 21, 144, 14s
Arundel, Archbishop, 96, 08
Arundels, The, of Clun, 162, 202
Ashford Carbonell, old parish

school at, 223
Ashton, Thomas, headmaster of

Shrewsbury School, 221,

224
Asteley, Lord, Royalist leader,

192
Aston, country laid waste by

Wulfhere as far as, 9
Aer, a twelfth century church,

242

Dotterel, 62

Atcham, birthplace of Ordericus

Vitalis, 67
Bridge Garrison, capture of,

187
Church utilized as a block

house during the Civil

War, 169
dedicated to Eata, early

British missionary, 67
Atcherley, James, headmaster of

Shrewsbury School, 224
Sir Roger, Lord Mayor of

London, 271
Attingham, see Atcham
Hall, classic eighteenth cen-
tury house, 254
Audelay, John, Canon of Haugh-

mond and poet, 76, 77, 260
Austin Canons, 75-81
Auden's Shrewsbury cited, 260
Friars in Shropshire, 90, 243

Bacon, Lord, on the Council of

the Marches, 153
Bagbury, the roaring bull of, 63

Bailiffs, town, dinrate with head-
master of Shrewsbury
School, 222, 223

Baldwin, Archbishop, and the
Crusades, 83

Baldwyn-Childe, Mrs., cited, 49

Bangor Iscoed, many monks of,
slain at Chester, 8

, Celtic Monastery or College

at, 6j, 68

Bamet, Josnua, of Wrockwardine,
108

Baronage of Shropshire, The
feudal, 197, 198

Barrow Church contains Saxon
work, 237

1 endowed elementary school

at, 232

Basil Wood, of White Abbey
(17 15), his map cited, 205

^list of county families, 205,

206

Battles in Shropshire : —
Hopton Heath, 168
Ludford Bridge, 144
Norton, near Stokesay, 190
Shrewsbury, 19
Whittington, 182

Battlefield Church, built to com-
memorate the battle of
Shrewsbury, 19, 62, 245, 246

Baxter, Richard, the Puritan
divine, 108-111, 171, 231,
267

proposes to found a Uni-
versity at Shrewsbury, 233,

234

Memoirs y quoted, 160, 230

Beaufort, Duke of, 156, 157
Beaufort Progress quoted, 157
Beauties of England cited, 60
Belesme, Robert de, 15, 27, 50,

5i» 53» 82
Belmeis, Philip de, 78

Richard de, 78

Belswardine, old country house,

208, 247
Benbow, Admiral, 270

Lieutenant, 187

Benedictines in Shropshire, 69-71
Bennett, W., benefactor of Shif-

nal Grammar School, 228

Hall, Shrewsbury, 243

Benthall, sixteenth century house,

247

used as a block house in

Civil War, 169

INDEX

277

Benthall Church, seventeenth cen-
tury, 253

Stone, near Albeibuiy, 63

Berrington, half-timbered Hall,

Church, 244

Berth Pool, Legend concerning,

129
Berwick, eighteenth century

house, 254
Bettws-y-Crwyn Church, fifteenth

century screen, 245
Betty, the tragedian. Young

Rouims, 265
Billingsley, Col. Francis, Royalist

leader, 192
Binweston, moated house, 242
Birch, Col., Royalist leader, 103

fails to capture Ludlow, 189

Bishops, how summoned to the

House of Lords, 201
Castle, history and anti-
quities of, 57-59
^had two representatiyes

in Parliament, 201
Presidents of the Council of

the Marches : —
Alcock, John, Bishop of Ely,

144
Lee, Rowland, Bishop of

Coventry and Lichfield, 146
Smith, founder of Brasenose

College, 145
Voysey, John, Bishop of

Exeter, 145
Bitterley, old parish school at,

233
Black and White style used in

some ecclesiastical build-
ings, 208
Black Birches, The, a good

example of half-timbered

house, 208

Death, The, 94

Friars, The, in Shropshire,

89.90
Pool, near Longnor, Legend

concerning the, 129
Blackmere, bixthplace of John

Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury,

202, 268
Blakeway, J. B., History of

Aibrighton cited, 46

^his MSS. quoted, 158

Blanchminster, see Oswestry
Blount, Sir George*s, ghost, 123
Boat-building at Bridgnorth, 35

Bolingbroke once student at
Sheriffhales Academy, 234

Bomere Pool, Legends concern-
ing. 129, 131

Boscobel House, 248

— — Charles II. and the oak of, 21

Bostock, Captain, Royalist officer,

>79

Bowen, Emanuel, his map of the
county in 175 1, 204

^James, painter, real author of

PhiUips' History of
Shrewsbury, 257

^John, painter, 257

Bowers, Bishop of Chichester,
pupil of Shrewsbury School,
225

Boydell, John, engraver, romantic
career of, 258, 259, 271

Braggington Hall, early seven-
teenth century, 2^0, 251

Braine, Major, Parhamentary
leader, 191

Bray, Thomas, once pupil in
Oswestry Grammar School,
and founder of the
S.P.C.K. and S.P.G., 218

Breidden Hills, last stand of
Caractacus on, 4, 5

Brereton, Sir William, Parlia-
mentary General, 168,
170-2, 192

Breteuil, the law of, 52, 61

Brampton Brian, 189

Bridgeman, John, Bishop of
Chester, 266, 267

Sir John, Recorder of Lud-
low, 160

Bridgewater, Earl of, 155, 156,
157, 162

Bridgnorth, Danes encamp near, 1 1

, Ethelfleda builds fortress at,

besieged by Henry I., 15

Henry II., 17

Oliver Croravrell, 191

Grey Friars at, 89

elections "all on one side,"

160

captured by Earl of Essex,

165, 166
defence of in the Civil War,
169, 192, I9J , « ,.

final capture by the Parlia-
ment, 192, 193

visited by Charles I. and his

army, 167, 192

278

INDEX

Bridgnorth, history, trade, and
constitution of, 3i-35> 54

Church (St. Leonard's) tower

rebuilt in fifteenth century,
246

Grammar School, short his-
tory of, 215-217

^had two representatives in

Parliament, 201

Town Hall rebuilt during the

Commonwealth, 251

Brochmail, British leader, de-
feated by Ethelfrith at
Chester, 8

Brogyntyn, a classic house of the
eighteenth century, 254

Bromfield Priory, 70

Church, seventeenth century

painted plaster ceiling, 255

Brooiley, HenrTr, of Shra war-
dine. Sheriff, 166, 169

Edward, Baron of the Ex-
chequer, 273

pupil of Shrewsbury

School, 225

Sir Thomas, Chief Justice, 273,

274

Lord Chancellor, 278

Broncroft, 1S9, 190, 197

Brooke, Lord, Parliamentary

General, 168
pupil of Shrewsbury School,

224, 229

Death of, 168

Sir Robert, of Clavcrley,

Speaker and Chief Justice,

272
Broseley, 59, 60
Brown, Thomas, the poet, a pupil

of Newport Grammar

School, 232, 161, 262
Brvan, John, of Shrewsbury,

108
Brytbons, marks of the racial

type of the, 3
Buildings, representative in

Shropshire, 236-256
Buildwas Abbey, 74, 238
utilised as a block house in

the Civil War, 169
Buntingsdale, an eighteenth cen-
tury house, 254
Burford, 61, 62
" Burhs " established in every

direction, 9
Burke's Landed Gentry referred

to, 205

Bumaby, Colonel, pupil of
Oswestry Grammar School,
219

Bume's Shropshire Folk-Lsn
cited, 7, 67

Burnell, Bishop Robert, enter-
tained Edward I. at Acton
Burnell in 1283, 18, 61,
240, 265, 266

Bumey, Dr. Charles, author of
History of Music, 259

Burton, Edward, of Longnor,
Protestant zeal of, 102, 103

Butcher Row, Shrewsbury, comer
house in, dates from
fifteenth century, 244

Butler, Dr. Samuel, headmaster
of Shrewsbury School, 224,
265

Butter Cross, near Alvelcy, 63

Buttington, Danes pursued as far
as, and there defeated, 11

Byron, Sir Nicholas, Royalist
Commander, 168, 175

Cacr DigoU, British earthworks
on Long Mountain, S

Caerleon in Monmouthshire, 65

Calamy's Nonconformists' Mem:-
rial cited, 105

Calvin, Lord, Parliamentar}
leader, 183

Camden cited, 31, 35, 37, 43, 49,

51, 53. 56, 57. 58. ^•

222
Capel, Lord, Commander of

Royalist forces, 168-174
Caractacus, defeat and capture

of, 4. 5
Hole on Caradoc called after

him, 135
Caradoc, see Caractcuus

Wakes, 131, 135

Carbery, Earl of, 156, 157
Careswell Charity, the, 228
Carmelite Friars at I^udlow, 90
Cary, Sir Edmund, Rovalisl

ofi&cer, 189
Castellated mansions in Shrop-
shire, Eyton's list of, 195
Castle, significance of the, in early

times, 201
Castles in Shropshire referred to—
Apley, no, 169, 178, 243
Bishop's Castle, 57
Bridgnorth, 31, 192, 193
Broncroft, 189, 190, 197

INDEX

279

Castles in Shropshire referred
Caus, 169, 190, 193, 238
Cleoburv Mortimer, 40, 49
Clun, 38, 39
Dawley, 60, 191
EUesmere, 16, 52
Hodnet, 196

Holgatc, 62, 189, 237, 238
Hopton, 176, 177
Ludlow, i43-i5o> i54-«58.

170, 189, 193, 243
[oretoo Co

MoretoD Corbet, 51, 175, 183,

184, 189
Oswestry, 36, 37, 182
Rouse ^ 189
Rowton, 193
Ruyton, 40

Shrawardine, 63, 190, 193
Shrewsbury, 13, 20
Stokesay, 126, 190
StrettoD, 41

Tong, 169, 180, 189, 243, 254
Wcm, 51
Whitchurch, 42
Whittington, 16
destroy^ in the Civil War,

«93
Eyton*s list of early, in

Shropshire, 196
Edward I. builds border

castles as protection against

the Welsh, 19
general disappearance of, as

residences, 207, 239
Henry II. reduces the number

of feudal, 17
in early times very numerous

in Shropshire, 195, 196, 238
their changed condition

to-day, 197
Caus, 61

Castle, 169, 190, 193, 238

Ceawlin captures Uriconium and

many other towns, 7
and Cutha, victory over

Britons at Deorham in

577. 7
^victory at Feathanleag

and deatn of Cutha, 7
Celtic city on the site of

Uriconium, 4
and Saxon periods, history

of, I-I2

' racial tjrpe, 3

Chaloner, Thomas, headmaster of

Shrewsbury School, 223,

225

headmaster
Grammar

Shropshire

Chaloner, Thomas, entertains

some of Charles I.'s court,

164
becomes headmaster of

Market Drayton Grammar

School, 227
becomes

of Newport

School, 231
Changes in old

families, 195-209
Charles I., 56, 153, 162-4, 166-8,

190-2, 2CO

II., 21, 46, 248

Charlton, Margaret, wife of
Richard Baxter, no

Robert, of Apley, a prominent

Parliamentarian, 163, 174,
190

Sir Job, eminent judge, 272

Charlton's Mansion, in Shrews-
bury, 243

Charter of King John to Shrews-
bury, 15

Chaucer quoted, 92-94

Chelmarsh Church, Decorated
architecture, 243 ,

Cheney Longville, a moated
house, 242

Chester, Shropshire manors owned
by the Bishop of, 14

Cheswardine, 62

Chetwjnd, 62, 190, 250

Pigotts, The, 124

Chicheley, Archbishop, 82

Chirbury, 61

Church contains early thir-
teenth century work, 238

first included in Shropshire

in iq37, 202

Ethelfleda erects a fortress at,

12, 236

Priory, 80

village school built and en-
dowed in 1675, 233

Christianity, sources of
shire, 65-67

Churches destroyed in the Civil
War, 193

^used for military purposes in

the Civil War, 172 m.

Churchbuilding at low ebb, early
nineteenth century, 256

Churchyard, Thomas, the poet,
quoted, r43, r4p, r6o, 210

Church Stretton, its history and
antiquities, 41, 42

Shrop-

s8o

INDEX

Church Stretton, old Market
House disappeared, 247
chorch tower built fifteenth

century, 246, 252
Cistercian Monastic Order,

the

73-75 ^
Cinlisation, difference of early,

between northern and

southern part of the

county, 2
Ctril War, the, in Shropshire,

21, 22, 29, 162-194
not a class struggle, but one

of religion and government,

207
Clanvowe, John, the Lollard, 96
Clarendon's History cited, 166,

188
Classical Presbyteries, 106, 107
Claverley, endowed elementary

sdiool at, 232
Church, chancel fourteenth

century, 244
tower built in fifteenth

century, 246
Clay industry in Salop, the, 59
Clee Hills, legends concerning,

126
Cleobury Mortimer, 30
castle besieged by

Henry II., 17
church contains early

thirteenth century work,

history and antiquities

of, 48-jo
probably birthplace of

William Langland, the

poet, 91
Clifford, Lewis, the Lollard, 96
— Rosamund (Fair Rosamond),

97
Clive, Robert, Lord, 174, 187,

188, 220, 270

a pupil of Market Dray-
ton Grammar School, 227,
228

Olivers History of Ludlow cited,

'53 ...

Clun, its history and antiquities,

37-39

first incorp>orated# in Shrop-
shire in 1537, 202

Forest, inhabitants largely

Welsh, 10

Red deer and roc wild

in, 195, 202

Clun; Francis, Earl of Arundel,
of, 162

Qungunford Church, chancel, four-
teenth century, 244

Quniac Monastic Order, 71-73

Coalbrookdale, 59

Coal industry in Shropshire, the,

^ , 54» 59, 60

Coalport, 59

Cobham, Lord, 96-98

Cockayne cited, 121

Cockfight money formerly pay-
able at our Grammar
Schools, 218

Cole Hall, Shrewsbury, 243

Colemere, legend concerning, 129

^Royadist troops encam^xd at,

172

Collegiate churches, four, founded
in Shrewsbury in Saxon
da]^, 211

Combermere, the monks and
abbot of, 42, 57

Commission of Array appointed
for the county, 162

for the regulation, continu-
ance, and erection of
schools during the Com-
monwealth, 212, 219

Committee of Sequestration's
Report at the end of Civil
War, 174

of twenty appointed by the

Parliament, 170, 178

List of successes of the,

191, 192

Commons first legally summoned
to Parliament at Shrews-
bury, 18

Commonwealth, little bxiilding
done during the, 251

Comus cited, 143, 155

representation of, at Lud-
low, 15s

Condover, 54, 131, 174

Church, fall of, in 1660, 246

rebuilding of, 252, 253

Hall, one of the Elizabethan

houses of the countv, 207,
247, 273

" The Small House " at, good

specimen of fifteenth cen-
tury house, 244

Constable of Ludlow Castle, the,

.56

Contributions, handsome, to the
Royalist cause, 166

INDEX

281

Copper Mining under the Romans
at Lianjonynech, 5

Corbet, Sir Andrew, 153

Captain Pelham, of Cans

CasUe, 185

Colonel Thomas, Royalist

officer, 189

^Jerome, 150

^John, of Adderley, Parlia-
mentary leader, 168, 170,
227

^Richard, boilt Longnor Hall

in 1658, 253

^Vincent, appointed Comman-
der of regiment of Shrop-
shire Dragoons, 167-169,
i89> «93. "94. 251

Comavii, British tribe of, 3-5

their chief city at Uriconium,

Com Mill, ancient, at Longnor,
241

Comewall, Sir Thomas, 160

Corporation of Shrewsbury, begin-
ning of the, 26, 28

<^pply ^o' the Abbey to

be made over to the town,
102

Corporations, Municipal, origin
and significance of, 201

Corpus Christi Gild Procession,

Coton, near Hodnet, old house of

fifteenth century, 244
Council in the Marches of Wales,

by Miss Skeel, cited, 161
Council of Aries in 314, 65
of the Marches, History of,

«>. ai, a3» 3i» M3-"6»
special work of, 144,

146-149, 152, 156, 159, 160,

161
abuses of, 150-152, 159,

161
of War held in Shrewsbury,

162, 250
Cound, appointment of "Minis-
ter'* of, 106-108
Hall, a seventeenth century

house, 253
Counhr, General History of the, 1-24
Families, and Basil Wood's

list of the, 205, 206
Houses, and Basil Wood's

list of the, 205
Court of Hill, seventeenth century

house, 253

Court of the Marches, see Comuil

of the Marches
Coventry and Lichfield, Bishop of,

146-148, 157
Cranage, a young soldier who fired

a bomb at Oswestry, 181,

182
Craven Arms, 59

Lord, of Stokesay, 162, 250

Creighton, Bishop, quoted, 23, 24
Crenellating of Stokesay and other

castles by royal license, 30,

239-242
Cressage, 63, 66
Christianity found very early

at, 210
Cressett, Edward, of Upton

Cressett, Roj^dist leader, 169
^presentation of James, 106-

108
Crewe, Lord Chief Justice, an old

pupil of Shrewsbury School,

224
Croeswylan, 62
Cromwell, Oliver, visits to

Shropshire, 191

^Thomas, 146, 147

Cross built into Wrozeter Church,

one of the oldest Christian

monuments remaining in

Shropshire, 236
Crowe, Capt., Commandant of

Shrewsbury Castle, hanged

for treachery or cowardice,

188
Crusades, The, in Shropshire, 82-

86
Cuckoo's Cup on Wrekin, 134
Cudworth, headmaster of Market

Drayton Grammar School,

226, 227
Cupboards, secret, built in old

countrv houses, 248
Cureton, William, the Orientalist,

a pupil of Newport Gram-
mar School, 231
Curthose, Robert, 15, 82
Customs curiously divided in

Shropshire, 63, 141
—old, of the county, 120-142

Danes defeated at Buttington, 11
Danesford, a Danish encampment

on the Severn, 11
Danish invasion, 10-12
left no impress on the

county, 12

s8t

INDEX

Daiwin, Chaiitt, Mpil of Shxem-

Imiy SckocM, aa6
Dftvoiwnt, ci^tMth cntnrj

aooaey ss4
Dairid ftp Gra^fydd. i8
-—^ leal in dwiBS to Shicwi*

biiiT ftnd there csecntedi

18, a8
— -jp Owwj^ SI
Dmwtejr, tt, fe^ 191
De Pitd^Md^ tlw, 45
Doe, Biikop, of Petcrboioii|dia a

papU of Shicwsboiy Soiool,

Deer. Red, in Shropehire, J95
^Forests at Qtm and

— -^Paries in Shropthire, 904
DmmHtt 00 the meriti of the

Court of Uaiches, 152
" Denortheaet *' Taylor, pnpil

of Shiewsburj S^ool, 215
Denbigh, Earl of, araointed Par-
liamentary Commander,

170, 181
Derby, Charles I. passes through,

164

Earls of, 52

Despoiling of churches at the

Reformation in Salop, 249
Devil*s Chair, the, on Stiper-

stones, 126
Dialect curiously divided in the

county, 141
Diddlebury Church, Saxon work,

237
Dingley (or Dinely), Thomas,

writer of Beaufort Prth

gress, 157
Dioceses of Lichfield, St. Asaph,

and Hereford, ancient

boundaries of, 141
Directory of Shropshire^ Kelly's,

cited, 206
Domesday Booh cited, 14, 26, 238
Domesday Book of 1873 cited,

203
Dominican Friars in Shropshire,

Donington Grammar School,
short history of, 229, 230

^Wood, 78

Donne, Dr., headmaster of Oswes-
try Grammar School, 218

Douglas, John, Bishop of Salis-
bury, a pupil of Donington,
230

Dotaiita, J. F. 11., poet, a^ J64

Dovey, Richaid, endowed the

natioiial tdiool at daveiw

Downes, Andrew, Greek Pro-

feMor, pvpil of Skrewdwiy

School, 324
Dragoons, rmment of, raaed

daring Civil War in the

county, 167
Drakes (? mitraiHeaset) nsed in

the siege of ShvewMiy, 171
Draper, Thomas, fonnder of New-

port Grammar School, 230
DraTton's AjTwalltMi quoted, 143
Dvdiess of Shrewsbiiry, 46
Dngdale's MwmsiUmi dted, r96
Due of Beaufort, 156, 157
DvnstanviUs, the Ik, 44
Dnnvall, half-tind>ered siiteeath

oentnry house at, 947
Dutch style of eighteenth oen-

tnry, the formal, a53
Dyer's Fitter quoted, r3r

Eata, the early British mis-
sionary, 67
Ecclesiastics, distinguished, of

Shropshire, 265-267
Eccleston, Henry, steward of

Earl of Bridgwater, at Lud-
low, 155
Edgmond church tower built,

fifteenth century, 246

ghost laid at, 124'

Edric Sylvaticus (The Wild), 13,

37, 128, r3i
Education, King Alfred's law as

to, 211
elementary, cared for in

endowed Tillage schools,

23a, 233
of children left entirely to the

Church in early times, 211
Edward I., 18, 28, 47, 52, 55, 62,

76,85

II., 47, 57, 62

III., 52, 82

IV., 20, 56, r44

. v., 20, 144, r45

VI., 100, ro2, r43, 213, 215,

249

the Confessor, r2, r3, 50, S7

Edwards, Sir Clement, pupil of

Shrewsbury School, 225
Eighteenth Century, an era of

church building, 254

INDEX

a83

Elizabeth, Queen, 58, loi, 150,

221

Elizabethan farmhouses scattered

over the county, 248
EUesmere, its history and anti-

quities, 51-53
^first incorporated in Shrop-

shire in 1537, 202
Tastle, held during the

Anarchy for Matilda, 16
I^hurch, fifteenth century

work in, 246

Lake, Legend concerning, 129

^Night attack on Royalist

convoy at, 174, 175

Royalist troops assembled at

during Civil War, 172
Ellis, Colonel, captures Apley

Castle, 178-180
Elsich, sixteenth century house,

^7
Endowed Village fkhools for

elementary education in the

county, 232, 233
England Displayed cited, 50
England Illustrated cited, 35, 37,

39. 41. 44, 48, 49. 5». 54.

56, 57. 58
Engravers of Shropshire, 258,

Ensdon House utilized in the Civil
War as a block house, 169

Episcopacy, abolition of, 105

Ercall Hill, legend how it was
first formed, 125

Essex, Earl of, appointed Captain-
General of the Forces by
the Pailiam*nt, 16, 41

Estates changed hands owing to
the Civil War, 194

value of, compounded for

after the Civil War, 194

Ethelfleda, King Alfred's daughter.
Lady of the Mercians, 12

Ethelfrith of Northumbrian slavs
in battle many Welsh monks
from Bangor Iscoed, 8

Ethelred visits Shropshire, i

Ethered pursues the Chines to
Buttington and there
defeats them, 11, la

Eure, Dame Mary, monument to,
in Ludlow Church, 158

Evans, David, second master of
Shrewsbury School, enter-
tains some of the Court,
164, 223

Evans, John, headmaster of Oswes-
try Grammar School, 219

EjTton-on-Severn, country resi-
dence of the Abbot of
Shrewsbury, 273, 274

^birthplace of Lord Herbert of

Chirbury, 274

E3rton-on-the-wild-moors, church
rebuilt m eighteenth cen-
tury, 255

Eyton's Antiquitiis of Shrop^
shire quoted, 68, 80, 81,
84, 200

^list of castles and castellated

mansions, 196

Fairfax, Sir William, Parliamen-
tary leader, 176

Fairs granted, 33, 34, 36, 38, 39,
40, 4", 43. 44. 46, 47. 49"
53. 55. 57-63

Falstaff at the battle of Shrews-
bury, 19; Oldcastle com-
pared to, 97

Families, list of county, in
Shropshire, 205, 206
changes in old Shropshire,
19J-209

Family, frequent changes in suc-
cession in the English
Royal, 200

Farmer, James, of Cound,
Quaker, 113, 114

Feasts and merrymakings, fondness
of Salopians for, 141, 142

Felton Heath, pursuit of Royalist
forces to, 182

Fenwicke, Colonel, appointed
Governor of Moreton Cor-
bet Castle, 184

Fethanleag, battle of, 7

Feudal Baronage of Shropshire,
147, 148

Feudalism, ongin and significance
of, 200, 201

final overthrow of, 19

Fifteenth century work in
churches, 243, 244

in wood, 245

Fisher, Rev. Samuel, 163

Fisher's Annals of Shrewsbury
School quoted, 188, 224

Fitz Aer family, home of, now
incorporated in farm build-
ings, 242

Fitzalan, William, Lord of Oswes-
try and Clun, 36, 38, 76

2SA

INDEX

Fitzalans, ttrange fatality among

the, aoo
Fitz church, a brick eighteenth

century edifice, 254
Fitz Manor, ac4
FltxOsbem, William, 13, 48
FitzScrob, Richard, la
Fletcher, Rev. John, \^car of

Madeley, 115, 117-119, 255,

267
Floraue of Worcester cited, 31
Folklore of the county, legends

and old customs, 130-142
often general rather than

local, lai, laa, las
Folkmoots, establishment of, in

every direction, 9
Ford church, fifteenth century

timbered roof, 345
fifteenth century screen,

House, eighteenth century

house, 254

Fourteenth century work in
churches, 243, 244; imi-
tated in seventeenth cen-
tury, 251

Fowler, Richard, of Hamagc,
captured at Hinton, 186

Fox's Acts and Monuments cited,
96, lOI

Fox, George, founder of
Quakerism, 112, 113

Mr. Secretary, 160.

Foy, Mr., curate of Edgmond,
lays a ghost, 124

Franchise of Cleobury, the, 49

Franciscan Friars in Shropshire,
88-94

Frankwell, 64

fort at, 186, 188

Free Grammar Schools, right
meaning of the word
" free," 213

Library at Shrewsbury, for-
merly the old Grammar
School, 251

School at Ludlow, 154

Friars, the coming of the, and
their work in Shropshire,
88-94

Eremites, 90

Friends, The Society of, in
Shropshire, 1 11- 114

Fuller's Worthies quoted, loi, 268

Fusion of Norman and Saxon
elements, 15

Gaelic racial type, 3

Gaontlett, Hen^ John, composer
and organist, 259

Gay Meadow, the, at Shrews-
bury, Royal troops muster-
ed in, 166

Gerard, William, description of
his colleagues, 150

Ghosts, how they were laid, 122, 123

Giants* Chairs, 126, 135

legends concerning, 125*127,

»35

Gilbert, Thomas, rector of Edg-
mond, benefactor of New-
port Grammar School, 231

Gild, Palmers', the, founds a
Grammar School at Lud-
low, 214, 2x5

Merchant, a8, 33, 47

Gildas quoted, 210

Gilds, the origin and significance
of, 201

Geraldus Cambrenns cited, 27,

74.83
Glynne, Mrs., a friend of Wesley,

116
Goldegay, Sir William, Parliamen-
tary officer, 180
Golden Arrow, the, of Pontes-

ford, 133
Galford's Tower, Ludlow, 160
Gomme's Ethnology and Folk-
lore cited, 132
Gough's History of Myddle
quoted, 169, 175, 188, 193,
230, 233, 251
Grammar Schools of Shropshire,
existing and extinct —
Battlefield, 212
Bridgnorth, 212, 213, 214,

215-217
Donington, 214, 229, 230
Halesowen, 214, 232
High Ercall, 214, 232
Ludlow, 212, 214, 215
Madeley, 212

Market Drayton, 214, 226-228
Newport, 214, 230-232
Oswestry, 212, 214, 217-219
Shifnal, 214, 223
Shrewsbury, 213, 214, 223-226
Ton^, 212-214

Welhngton, 213, 214, 219, 220
Wem, 214, 229
Whitchurch, 214, 220
Whittington, 214, 232
Worfield, 214, 228, 229

INDEX

»8S

Grammar School, Shrewsbury,
the old, now the Free
Library, 251

Schools, largely founded by

men who had left the
county, 213

English, probably over

300 in number at the time
of the Reformation, 212

receive royal grants, 213

Grand Jury and Qergy sign
Declaration to King
Charles I., 163

Grandmont, Order of, 81, 106

Graves, Richard, founds an Exhi-
bition at Ludlow Grammar
School, 215

Gray quoted, too

Great Solas, Church of
eighteenth century, 255

Great Ness, has seventeenth cen-
tury altar rails, 252

Greet Court, early seventeenth
century, 250

Greville, Fulk, 148

Grey Friars in Shropshire, 89. 90

Griffith ap Rees publicly whip-
ped at Ludlow, im>

Sir Piers, pupil of Shrews-
bury School, 225

Grove, John, endows village
school at Alveley, 232

Growth of the Towns, 16

Guisers or Mummers, 139, 140

Habberley Hall, early seventeenth
century, 250

Haberdashers Company of Lon-
don appoint Governors of
Newport Grammar School,
231

Halesowen Abbey, 81

Grammar School, 232

Hallowe'en celebrations, 140, 141

Halston Chapel, an example of
black and white ecclesi-
astical architecture, 208,
250

, establishment of Templars

at, 86, 87

, house of Knights of St. John

at, 196

, once the house of Jack

M3rtton, 250

Hancock, Walter, architect,
designs Condover Hall,
^73. 274

Hanmer, John, Bishop of St.

Asaph, 267
Hardwick, an ei^teenth century

house, 254
Harley, Lady Brilliana, gallant

defence of Brampton Brian

CasUe, 180
Hartland's Science 9f Fairy

Tales quoted, 137, 138
Hartshorn, C. H., the antiquary,

a pupil of Shrewsbury

School, 226
Hastings (or Senlac), battle of,

12
Hatton Grange, near Shifnal,

eighteenth century house,

254
Haughmond Abbey, 62, 68, 76-

78, 191, 192, 196, 232, 238,

248, 249, 274
Hayward, Sir Rowland, pupil

of Bridgnorth Grammar

School, 216
Healing Wells, 131
Heathenism and Christianity,

conflict of, at Maserfield,

8
Heber, Bishop, once rector of

Hodnet, 261
Henley, near Ludlow, eighteenth

century house, 254
Henry L, 15, 16, 27, 47, 51, 78,

IL, 17, 27, 47, 49, 51, 97

III., 17, 18, 47, 50, 52, 55,

UI., 17, 18, 47,

59, 61, 62, 74
IV., 19, 28, 29,

— v., 97

^VIL, 20, 100, 144, 244

VIII., 56, 100

Earl of Richmond, visits

Shrewsbury on his way to
Bosworth Field, 20

the house he stayed at

remains, a good example of
fifteenth century work, 244

^Philip, Diary quoted, 183 n.

Herald's Visitation of Skropsldre
cited, 107, 272

Herbert, Humphrey, school-
master, of Ludlow, 154

George, (he poet, 274

Lord, of Chirbury, 162, 207,

274

Autobiography

cited, 274

Hermits in Shropshire, 68

INDEX

Heyttn^ ychskf bas to sell ibc
AMertoia ctlMe alter tie
Civil Wai, 1 94 1 J4S

<^^RowUiidf puptj of SliJTwsbuTy

School J Z3%

Bidiog-places m iiJcteeoth cenlury

houses, 3.^%
High Ercall, 63, iSg, J90, igi
— ^ — Cburcfa^ 350, 35a
HiU, Richard, the dipIoMatiitj

pufiil o! Sticwsbury School j

^—Rowland, Lojd Mayor of
London, founder of Market
Diavion Giamm^r School,
326, 271

— -^ ^ afterward I Lord Hill),

ol Hnwktilone, 271

^ — -Sir RicbAid, oJ Hawke^tone,

HiiJ Wilw», 133

Hiaton* captuTf of the XiDg^$

Celtic aod S^xon periods,
1^12

Nontian period, 13*17
Plamagenet period, 17-20
Ttidor period, 10, 21
Stuart aod HaDoveriaji

periods, 21*23
History &f Musiff written by Dr*

Charles Bumcy, 259
Hockslow Deer Forest, tgs
Hodneij 61, 20S, 263

Caatic, existence of, rei^ealed

by Enodern reseiitch, 196
Holbeche, David, founder cf
Oawe&try Grammar School,

2t8

ffciiftsked cited, 269

H opt 00 Castle, 176, 177

— — Heath, battle of, 16S

Hot spur, &\&m at tfae battle of

ShrewtbiJiT, 19
Hours of school attendance in
fortnet days, 2t8, aat, 2mj^

231
House of Lords, how constituted

and how siimmoned in early

limes, 301
Houses, Basil Wood^s list of

country, aos
black aod white, half4ica-

bcjed» touod all OYer the

count J, 20S

Howard, Sir Ricbard, Royalist
leader J 193

How, William Walsh am. Bishop
of Wakc&eld, 265

Howell^ Abr«baiii» sdioolmaster of
Ash ford, 233

Hnghley Chuich, fourteenth cen-
tury, 244

—fifteenth ceatttty sotco,

MS
Hulbeft'f Mammal #/ Skr&piMin

Bwgra^ky Cited, 271
Hnm^zi remains fouod, m iS39f

at ButtiufftoG, the scene of

an early battle, tl
Htimpbreston, estate of, ch%e^

bands owing to the Ctvit

War, 194
-traces of bouse of Satoa

franklin 11 1, 236
Humphreys, Humphrey, Bishop

of Bangor, pupiJ of Osw^-

ity Grammar School, aiS
Htiiadreds, Sbropihire divided at

Domesday into, 14, 15
revised by Henry L,

16
Hunkes, Sir Fulkc, Royalbt

leader, 1S2
Hunt^ Colonel Thomas, of

Shrewsbury, a Parliamen-
tarian lender, 162, 163, 167,

i68t 171, 187, iSS, 190
a pupil of Shrewsbury School^

22s
Hnsoo, a minister, assists 2t the

capture of Shrewsburi", ifij

Iberian racial tvpes^ marks of

the, 3
Idsal House school, Shifnal, 22S
IdsaU, see Ski/mal
Illustrious Salopians, 257-274
pupils of dhrcwsbury Sdiool*

224*226
Income of Shropshire landowncis

formerly and now, 203, J04
— ^^religious houses, 197
Indiicrence, Salopian » to religiovs

change, to2, 106, toS
Infarmat&r Rustieus quoted, 175
Inscription on Ludlow Castle, 15a
Invasions of Shropsbire, succes*

sive, 2-14
Ippikin, a legend conoerainf

Wenlock Edge, 127
IroobHdg^Cj 59

INDEX

287

Iron industry, the, in Shropshire,

54* 59
— rails first made in Shropshire,

59
Isle, the, shows the sequence of

building often followed, 253
Ivanhot referred to, 86
iTe, Roger, builds Battlefield

church, 245

Jacobean design of Moreton

Corbet Hall, ao8

pulpits, 252

James I. on "dangerous

novelties," 153
II. dismantled Shrewsbury

Castle, 29
took away the town charter

of Shrewsbury, 23

^yisits Shrewsbury, 23

Jeffreys, Judge, arbitrary mea-
sures of, 22
a pupil of Shrewsbury

School, 23, 225
tries Richard Baxter,

no
John Inglesant referred to, 174
John, King, 17, 27, 36, 52, 53
grants a charter to

Shrewsbury, 15, 23, 27
Johnes, Thomas, translator of

Froissart, pupil of Shrews-

bury School, 225
Jones, Alexander Fletcher, the

first exhibitioner from

Oswestry to the University,

218
Colonel, R.E., V.C., pupil

of Oswestry Grammar

School, 219
Thomas, Senior Wrangler, a

pupil of Shrewsbury School,

22s

Katharine of Aragon, 21, 100
Kelly's Directory of Shropshire

cited, 206
Kennedy, Dr. B. H., headmaster

of Shrewsbury School, 224,

226

his words quoted, 218

Kenwealh, King of Wessex,

battle of Pontesburv under,

Kenyon, first Baron, Chief Jus-
tice, 272
Kilsall, legend concerning, 129

Kingsland, Shrewsbury, in olden

times, 139
the finest site for a school in

England, 224
Kinlet church, chancel and

transepts of fourteenth

century, 244
Hall, ei^teenth century

house, 254
Kirke, Sir Lewis, captures Hop-
ton Castle, r77
Governor of Ludlow,

190
Knights Hospitallers, 85

of St. John, house of, 196

Templars, 86, 87

Knockin, 62

Heath, legend concerning,

127
military rendezvous at,

182

Royalist victory at, 189

Kynaston Family, the, 52

^Wild Humphrey, 127

^legendary leap of,

127

Lacy, Roger de, probably built
Ludlow Castle, 29

" Lady of the Mercians," the,
Ethelfieda, erected for-
tresses at Bridgnorth and
Chirbury, 12, 236

Godiva, 72

Land in Shropshire, changes in
ownership of, 195-209

Langford, Charles, founds exhibi-
tions at Ludlow Grammar
School, 218

Langland, William, poet, prob-
ably a Salopian, 91-93, 260

Langley Chapel, early seventeenth
century, 252

Lansdowne MSS. quoted, 141

Latham, Edward, captured at the
siege of Bridgnorth, 193

Latimer, Thomas, a Lollard, 96

Laud, Archbishop, 105

Laurence de Ludlow, 30, 240

buys Stokesay, 30

obtains royal license to

crenellate it, 30, 240

Thomas, headmaster of

Shrewsbury School, 221,
222, 224

Lawyers of Shropshire, dis-
tinguished, 272, 273

288

INDEX

Laying Ghosts, the process of,

122, 123
Lea, Danes abandon their ships

on the river, 11
Lea Hall abandoned by the

Royalists, 189
Leach's English Schools at the

Reformation quoted, 21a,

Lead Mines worked by the

Romans at Stiperstones, 5
Leaders of the Parliamentary

party in Shropshire, 207
Leasowes, The, the house of

Shenstone, the poet, 81
Leebotwood, 62

Lee Bridge, engagement at, 173
Rowland, Bishop of Coventnr

and Lichfield, 21, 146-148,

157, 266, 272
Sir Richard, of Langley,

Royalist leader, 169
Leeke, Thomas, Baron of the

Exchequer, founded High

Ercall School, 232
Legend as to the capture of

Uriconium, 7
Legends of the county, 120-142
Leighton Hall, near Ironbridge,

eighteenth century, 254
Church, eighteenth century,

Sir Wm., Judge, remodelled

Plash Hall in 1607, 250, 272

Lcintwardinc, a stage on the
southward royal journey
from Shrewsbury, 26

Lcland's Itinerary cited, 31, 34,
37 » 39» 41, 43> 46, 48, 49>
5i» 53» 54, 56, 57, 5^, 202,
203, 218

list of Shropshire landowners

in his day, 202

Lc Strange family, the, 52

Levere, Robert, a merry host of
Newport, 47

Leveson, Sir Richard, Royalist
officer, 179

Lewis, Edward, builds and en-
dows village school at Chir-
bury, 233

Licenses to crenellate issued, 30,
279.242

Lichfield Close, siege of, 168

; St Chad first Bishop of, 66

Lilleshall Abbey, 28, 78-80, 178-
180, 191,' 196, 238

Lindisfarne, 66, 67

Lingen, Baron, a pupil of Bridg-
north Grammar School, 216

Lister, Lady, gallant defence of
Rowton Castle by, 188

Sir Thomas, of Rowton, a

prominent Royalist, 166

Lives lost in Shropshire through
the Civil War, 193

Llanjrmynech, copper mines
worked by the Romans at,

5
Llewelyn the Great, 17, 52, 81

ap GniflFydd, 18

Lloy4, Andrew, 174, 187, 188,

190
Colonel, of Llanforda, bm

tnvantf 175

^Richard, of Welshpool, 147

Llynclys, legend concerning, 129
Local life and feeling always

strong in Shropshire, 23
Lodge, Sir Oliver, a pupil of

Newport School, 231
The, an eighteenth century

house, 254
Lollards in Shropshire, the, 95-98
Longden, 61

Long Mountain, British earth-
works on, 8
Longdon-on-Tcrn, church rebuilt

in eighteenth century, 255
Longford reduced by the

Royalists, 180
Longnor Hall, Church, Park, and

Mill, 241, 253
Loppington Church, fortified and

defended, 172
Lord Mayors of London, many

Salopian, 271
Lords, House of, how constituted,

and how summoned in early

times, 201
Loton, seventeenth century house,

250
Ludford Bridge, the rout of,

144
Ludlow, its social season in the

eighteenth century, 23
and the Council of the

Marches, 143- 161
aptured by Earl of Essex, 165
Carmelites and Austin Friars

at, 90
defence of in Civil War, 169
'xrammar School, short his-
tory of, 214, 215

INDEX

289

Ludlow had two representatWet in

Parliament, 201
its history, trade, and develop-

ment, 29-31

mentioned in Domesday^ 26

Museum, 158

rope-pulling contest at, 64,

'35

stately ceremonial at, 153

the chief seat of the Morti-
mer power, 144

tourist's letter of eighteenth

century, describing, 23

town gaol, 160

vbited by Charles I., 191

Ludlow Advertiser quoted, 157

Ludlow Castle, 16, 29

^Arthur, Prince of Wales,

holds Court at, 21

^besieged, 189, 193

last of the King's garri-
sons in Shropshire, 193

unsuccessful attack on,

.89

Church, mainly of the four-
teenth century, 243

tower built fifteenth

century, 246

Ludstone Hall, seventeenth cen-
tury building, 208, 250

Lutwyche Hall, old brick sixteenth
century mansion, 247

Sir Edward, Judge, 272

Lydbury Castle, see BUhofs
CastU

North, old village school at,

233

has sixteenth century

screen, 245

Lydley Heys, establishment of
the Templars at, 86, 196

Lyon, Captain, killed, 178

Lythwood Hall, near Shrewsbury,
eighteenth century house,

Mabel de Belesme, first wife of

Roger de Montgomery, 14
Mackworth, Colonel Humphrey,

Parliamentary leader, 167,

171, 190, 193
a pupil of Shrewsbury

School, 225
Madelcy, 59, 60, 117, 255

Churrh, rebuilt in 1796, 25 c

Court, fine example of old

house, 208, 247, 272

Madeley House, abandoned by the

Royalists, 189
Maesbury, 35, 238
Magna Charta, 17
Malins Lee, ruined Norman

Chapel at, 238
Manor houses built in thirteenth

century instead of fortified

castles', 239

destroyed in the Civil

War, 193
McMichael, William,

pupil of
Grammar

Bridgnorth

School, 216
Manors existing at the Conquest

named in Domesday

Survey^ 14
Map of Basil Wood of 17 15 cited,

205
C. Saxton, showing list of

Elizabethan parks, cited,

204
Samuel Brown, of 175 if

cited, 204
Marbury, William, headmaster of

Oswestry School, 218
Market Hall, Shrewsbury, statue

of Duke of York, 20
old, finished in

1596, 247
Drayton, its history and

antiquities, 56, 57, 176
Church, improved in

1796, 255, 256
—Grammar School, short

history of, 224-226
Markets granted, 40, 41, 43, 44,

46, 47. 49-55» 57-^3

for time of plague, 62

Marquis of Halifax, " the great
trimmer," pupil of Shrews-
bury School, 225

Marrin^on Hall, example of half-
timbered sixteenth century
work, 247

Marrow, Colonel, Royalist leader,
182

Major, Parliamentary officer,

killed at the storming of
Wem, 173

Marches, history of the Council
of the, 143-161

Marsh, near Westbury, example of
black and white house, 208

Marslev Park, scene of the Royal
nunt, 26, 29

Marston Moor, battle of, 182

290

INDEX

Mary Tudor at Ludlow, 145, 146

at Shrewsbury, 257

Maserfield, near Oswestry, Oswald
defeated and slain at, 8

Masons, bands of, in the four-
teenth century, 244

Matilda's cause during the
Anarchv espoused by most
Shropsnire nobles, 16

Matthew Paris quoted, 74, 75

Matthews, G. B., Senior
Wrangler, pupil of Ludlow
Grammar School, 215

Maurice, Prince, appointed
Royalist Commander-in-
Chief in Shropshire, 185,
186

Meighen, John, headmaster of
Shrewsbury School, 222,
225

Melverley Church, half-timbered
structure of fifteenth cen-
tury, 208, 245

Mennes, Sir John, Royalist
leader, 169

Merchant Gilds, 28, 33, 47

Mercia, Rise of the kingdom of,
8

Meres, legends concerning
Shropshire, 129- 131

Mermaid, the, of Aqualate Mere,

130

Childs Ercall, 130

Methodism in Shropshire, in,

114-119
Middleton, Sir Thomas, of Chirk,

appointed Parliamentary

Commander, 170-173, 182,

189
Milburga founds Wenlock Abbey,

237

Military Orders, the, in Shrop-
shire, 85-87

Milton cited, 131, 132

Mining on the Stiperstoncs, 195

Minsterley, quaint seventeenth
century church at, 253

Mint, the old, in Shrewsbury, 243

Mitchell's Fold, 126

Mitrailleuses (" drakes '*) used in
the siege of Shrewsbury,
171

Moat Hall, example of small
manor house, 248

Moated residences, T95, 239-242

Monastic houses, increase of, dur-
ing the Anarchy, 16

Monastidsm in Shropshire, 68-87
MatuuticoH, Thi, of Dugdale,

cited, 196
Monkbridge, a boundary, 202
Montague, John, a Shropshire

Lollard, 96
Montford Bridge, the passage of

the Severn forced at, 182

Church, rebuilt in 1736, 255

Montgomery, rout of Royalist

forces at, 183
More, Samuel, of Linley, gallant

defence of Hopton, 176, 177
a pupil of Shrewsbury

School, 225
Moreton Corbet, 51, 175, 208,

248
Castle captured by the

Parliament, 183, 184
dismantled by the

Parliament, 189
Say Church cased with brick

in eighteenth century, 255
Morris-dancers, 139, 140
Mortality through the Civil War,

193

Mortimer family, the, 14, 17, 48,

49. ^43
Hugh dc, holds three castles

besieged by Henry II., 17
Ralph de, owns manors in

Shropshire, 14

Roger de, 243

Mortimer's Cross, battle of, 20
Morville Priory, 70
Mothering Sunday, 140
Moultrie, John, poet, 264
Much Wenlock, see Weniock
Mummers, the (or Guisers), 139
Municipal life of Shrewsbury, 26-

Government, growth of, 201

Museum at Shrewsbury, early

remains in the, 2
Musicians of Shropshire, 259
Myddle, mortality of soldiers

from, during Civil War, 193
History of, by Gough,

quoted, 169, 175

old castle at, 243

old village school at, 233

Myrk, John, Canon of Lilleshall,

poetry of, quoted, 79, 260
Mytton, Jack, of Halston, 253
Thomas, of Halston, Parlia-
mentary leader, 170-188,

270

INDEX

291

Namby'Pawiby, nickname of the

Shropshire poet, Ambrose

Phillips, a6a
Nantwich, unsuccessful Royalist

attack on, 168, 17a
Nash Church, fourteenth century

work, 243
Needham, Captain, killed at the

capture of Shrewsbury, 188
Needle's Eye on the Wrekin, 134
Neen Sollars Church, fourteenth

century work, 243
Nesscliff, legend concerning, 127
Netley Hall, built in 1857, 256
Neutral soldiers during the Civil

War, 185
Nevett, Rowland, of Oswestry,

108
Newborough, see Niwport
New Learning, The, 99
Newport, history and antiquities

of, 47, 48, 62, 190
Grammar School and short

history of, 230-212
Sir Francis, of itigh Ercall,

a great builder, 273, 274
Sir Richard (afterwards Lord

Newport), of High Ercall,

163, 166, 270
unsuccessful attempt to

capture his manor house,

189

the Mermaid of, 130

Newsletters, mostly in the interest

of Parliament during the

Civil War, 167, 175, 178
Newton, Sir C. T., the antiqua^,

a pupil of Shrewsbury

School, 226
Nicholas de Denton, a Shropshire

hermit, 68
Nichols, Thomas, of Shrewsbury,

accused of treason, 167
Nicostrata Carmenta^ school-book

used in early times, 211
Nonconformist chapels in

eighteenth century, gene-
rally of very simple archi-
tecture, 255
Norfolk, Duke of, buys the Castle

of Clun, 202
Norman architecture, traces of,

237-239

invasion, effect of, i

history of the, 12*

17
-Venator, 45

Normans, manors named in

Domesday Book mostly held

by, 14
Northampton, Earl of. Royalist

Commander, killed, 168
Norton, near Condover, Henry I.

signed two documents at, 15
Bonham, a benefactor to

Church Stretton, 41
Camp, legend concerning,

120

Mrs. Jane, built west end of

Church Stretton church, 252

near Stokesay, battle of, 190

^William, founds elementary

school at Onibury, 232
Nottingham, Charles L raises his

standard at, 163

Oaken|[ates, 59, 60

Odelenus, chaplain of Roger de

Montgomery, 70, 71
Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, appointed

Regent by William I., 13
Offa builds the great dyke known

by his name, 10
reigns over Mercia from 757

to 796, 10
wrests Pengwem from the

Welsh, 10
Oldburv, castle built by Ethel-

fleda at, 31, 236
Oldcastle, Sir John, the Lollard

(Lord Cobham), 96-98
" Olde House,*' the, on Dogpole

where Mary Tudor stayed,

^7
Old, rarity of things really, 2o8»

209
Old Shropshire families, changes

in, 195-209
Onibury, endowed elementary

school at, 2^2
Onslow family, dutinguished in

Shropshire, 272

Hall, built about 1820, 256

Ordericus Vitalis educated at

Shrewsbury, 211

quoted, 32, 50, 67, 211

Orders, the monastic, in Shrop->

shire, 68-87
Ordovices, British tribe of, 3
Orleton, near Wellington, 247
Ostorius Scapula, victorious over

Caractacus, 4
Oswald, King of Northumbria,

slain at Maserfield, 8, 66

•9*

INDEX

uoqidties of, ^-37

ftptiifed fot VBait
i8o» 181

of Onrftid bjr PewU's
8

of. dnriBg the Chril
Wtr, 170, 181. t8a

iaoovponted ui Shiop-
thitc in 1537, joa
hiU ommtrT behind, moetlj
inhebited Of Welsh, so
incident of ctoMMlittg timei
tt,84

the neae darived from
OswakPs txee, 8
nnwiccetihil stntecem at,

«7S
— — <kuninar School, thoit his-
tofj of, as7-axg

popib of» ni8^ asg
-the fint

pnhlic
•chool in Shfopthiie nncon-
nected with a rdigioni
house, aia

Oteley, the White Ladj of, 139

Ottlcy, Sir Francis, of Pitchford,
a prominent Royalist leader,
21, 163, 167, 169, 17s, 186,
193, 270

a pupil of Shrewsbury

School, 225

Owen, George, of Henllys, 152

Archdeacon Hugh, joint

author of the History of
Shrewsbury f 258

Glyndwr in rebellion, 19

Goronwy, the Welsh poet, a

pupil of Donington Gram-
mar School, 230

• Leighton, 174

Rev. E. Price, 258

Roger, 186

Sir Roger, antiquary, 273

Sir William, of CondoTer,

174, 187

Thomas, Judge, who built

Condover Hall, 272, 273

^William, R.A., pupil of Lud-
low Grammar School, 215,
258

Owen and Blakeway's History of
Shrewsbury cited, 95, 97,
258

Owen's Mansion, Shrewsbniy,
built sixteenth century, 247

Owens, they of Condoier,
wiTeien in the CSnl War,
aoy ,^

Owueiship of land in Shiopibiie,
changei in the, 195, aog

Pageant, Annnal, at Shiewrimiy,

Pageants of Shrewslmij Sdool,

of Shxopshife^ 'ST-'SS
Palmers* Gild foond a Gntmniar

School at Lvdlow. 314
JPmlsgfmm in /okm /aif/cienf in-
tended to represent Prince

Pantolf, the knilj of , 50, 56
Papal sopremacy overthrown, 100
Pardoners, evil infloences of the,

Ftek Mil, O s we sti f , ristnnle of

black and waite timbend

architectnre, aoB, 347
Chai>el, exan^le of black and

white ecclesiastical baikbig,

ao8
Parks in Shropshire in Elizabeth's

reign and since, 204, 205
Parliament, famous, held by

Edward I. at Shrewsbury

in 1283, 18, 28
adjourned to Acton Bumell,

18, 238
^representation of Shropshire

in, 201
Parliamentary Committee of

Twenty appointed for

Shropshire, 170, 178
list of successes of, 190

191
party in Shropshire, leaders

of the« 207
Paulet, Lord, taken prisoner at

Bridgnorth, 166
Pa3me, Edward, headmaster of

Oswestry Grammar School,

219
Peasants* revolt of 1381, the, 94
Peerage, modern of Shropshire,

197. 198
Peers, House of, how constituted,

and how summoned ia

early times, aoi
Pembridge, Elizabeth, builds

Tong Church in the

fifteenth century, 245
Fulke, of Tong, 343

INDEX

293

Pembroke, Earl of, 151, 15a
Penda defeats and slays Oswald

at Maserfield, 8
—champion of heathenism, 9
Pengwem, the earliest name of

British Shrewsbury, 7, 10
a flourishing centre of Celtic

power, 8
Penry, John, Puritan, author of

the Martin Mar-prelate

Tracts, a pupil of Snrews-

bury School, 204
Percy, Bishop, author of The

Reliques of Ancient Poetry ,

265
pupil of Bridgnorth

Grammar School, 216, 247
Perfect Occurrences quoted, 191
Perfect Passages quoted, 186
Periods of Shropshire history —

1. Celtic and Saxon, i-i2

2. Norman, 12-17

3. Plantagenet, 17-20

4. Tudor, 20, 21

5. Stuart and Hanoverian,
21-23

Perrott, Sir Richard, pupil of
Shrewsbury School, 225

Peter dc Rupibus, founder of
Halesowen Abbey, 81

the Hermit, 82

Petsey, near Hodnet, old house,
251

Petton Church rebuilt in 1727,

Peverel,^Viniam, 83

Phillips, Ambrose, poet, pupil of

Shrewsbury School, 225,

26a

Fabian, 150

Major, gallant defence of

Hopton, 177
Phillips* History of Shrewsbury

quoted, 102, 103, 114
Picot de Say, Lord of Clun, 38
Pictures, church, burning in

Market Square of, loi, X02
Picrpoint, Lady, endows cottage

school at Tong, 232
Pierson, Thomas, preacher, at

Ludlow, 153
Piers Plowman, by William

Langland, 9i-93» 260
Pigott, Richard, headmaster of

Shrewsbury School, 223,

Pigott* t Ghost, Madam, 124

Pins thrown into water at wish-
ing wells, 132, 133

Pitchford Church, early thirteenth
century building, 242

has seventeenth century

pulpit and pews, 262

Hall, an example of black

and white timbered archi-
tecture, 208, 242, 244

Place Names in the county,
absence of Danbh, 12

Plague Markets, 62

Plantagenet period, history of,
17-20

Plash Hall, one of the oldest
houses in Shropshire, 207,
250

Plays, Medieval, in Shropshire,

137, 138
Miracle, acted by the Abbot

of Shrewsbury's men, 138
Plcwden Hall, old house, 208, 248

Roger de, fell at Acre, 84

Poets of Shropshire, 259-264
Polyolbion (Drayton) quoted, 142
Pontesbury, battle at, under

Kenwealh, King of Wessex,

Church, has fourteenth cen-
tury chancel, 244

Pontesford Hill, legends concern-
ing, 133

Pool Hall, near Alveley, seven-
teenth century building, 250

Population, 28, 60, 195

Potterv manufacture, 60

Powell, of Oswestry, 150

Powis, Shrewsbury the early
capital of the Princes of, 8

Powys, Sir Thomas, an eminent
Judge, 272

Littleton, an eminent

Judge, 27a

Thomas, Solicitor-General,

pupil of Shrewsbury School,
22s

Precisians, the, 104

Preece, Sergeant Ulicu Scrog*
gan), 17s, 176

Preen, 73

Prees Heath, Royalist encamp-
ment at, 172

Premonstratensian Order, /the, 81

Presbyterianism, 105-108

Presbyteries, Classical, 106, 107

Presidents of the Council of U&e
Marches, 144-148

294

fNDEX

Preston Brockhnrst changed

hands owing to the Civil

War, 194, 251
—on • the - Wild • Moors Church,

with hospital, both early

eighteenth century, 255
Price, Sampson, malleus futretu

corum, a pupil of Shrews-

bury School, 225
Sir John, captures the Royal

Commission at Hinton, 186
Primogeniture democratic in its

effects, 201
Prince, Richard, built Whitehall,

Shrewsbury, in 1578, 248
Princes, boy, smothered in

the Tower, 20
Priories, Grandmontensian, 196
Prior of St. John's Hospital,

Shrewsbury, 28
Priors* Lodging at Wenlock, 73,

207, 244, 24s
Priory of Wenlock founded by

Roger de Montgomery, 14
Private Schools early established

in the larger towns, 212
Prosperity of Shropshire under

the Roman occupation, 6
in Elizabeth's reign,

signs of, 248
Pulverbatch, 61, 140
Pupils, famous, of Shrewsbury

School, list of, 224-226
Puritanism, 98, 103

Quakerism in Shropshire, 1 11- 114

Quaker meeting house in Shrews-
bury, 113

Quatford, Danes at, 11

the first borough founded

after the Conquest, 31, 32

" Queen of Hearts,'* daughter of
James I., 250

Racial types, difference between

earliest, 3
Rarity of things really old, 208,

209
Ratlinghope Priory, 81
Raven's Bowl on Wrekin, 134
Rea Valley, settlements of West

Saxons in the, 9
Recorders of Ludlow, 160
Rees, Griffith ap, whipped pub-
licly at Ludlow, 160
Reformation, the English, 20, 98-
III

Regents appointed during the

Conqueror's absence, 13
Regiment of Dragoons raised in

the county, 167
Reinking, Colonel, Parliamentary

leader, 183, 186-188, 190,

191
Religious Movements, mediaeval

and post-medieval, 65, 119
■ Houses in Shropshire,

Stevens' list of, 195
their changed con-
dition to-day, 197
RewumbrafueSy Cromwell's, cited,

146
Representation of Shropshire in

the House of Commons,

201
Representative buildings in

Shropshire, 236-250
government, growth of, in

the towns, 201
Republicanism in England, 104
Restoration^ Shropshire at the, 22
Reynerius, Bishop of St. Asaph,

84
Rhys' Celtic Folklore cited, 141
Richard L, 27, 43

IL, 56, 58, 60

IIL, 20

Duke of York, father of

Edward IV., 20, 144
Richard's Castle, 12
Rich, Lord Chancellor, petitioned

to found a public school in

Shrewsbury, 220
Road, New, over Wenlock Edge,

made by Henry L, 15
Roads, Roman, 5
Roaring Bull of Bagbur}-, the

122
Robert de Belesme, 15, 27, 50,

5i» S3. 82

Curthose, 15, 82

Robin Hood's Arrow, 128

Butts, 128

Robson, William, benefactor of

Newport Grammar School,

230
Robyns, Richard, headmaster of

Newport Grammar School,

230
Roderick, Richard, M.A., first

headmaster of W>m Gram-
mar School, 229
Roger de Clinton, founder of
Buildwas Abbey, 74, 83

INDEX

«9S

Roger de Montgomery, kinsman
of the Conqueror, 13-15

appointed Eafi of

Shrewsbury, 13

^builds Shrewsbury

Castle, 26

founds Shrewsbury

Abbey, 70, 71

is buried in Shrews-
bury abbey, 14

led light wing of the

Con(^ueror*s army at
Hastings, 267

Roger de Plowden, fell at the cap-
ture of Acre, S4

Roman city of Uriconium, 4, 5

architecture, traces of in some

old buildings, 237

civilization and its effects, 5,

mining on Stiperstones, 195

occupation, 3-0

Rope-pulling contest at Ludlow,

64, 135
Rorrington Holy Well, 133
" Roscius, The Young," 265
Rowton Castle, gallant defence by

Lady Lister of, 188, 256
Royal House in England repre-
sented in 800 years by seven
different families, 200
Royal visits to Shropshire : —
Charles L, 21, 164-167, 190-

Edward L, 18

Ethelred, i

Henry L, 15, i6, 27, 238

IL, 17, 27

IV., 19

Tames II., 23

Prince Arthur, 144

Richard II., 28

Stephen, 16, 27
Rupert, Prince, Royilist leader,
21, 171, 174. 176, 180-184
Rushbury, 61
Church has Roman work in

it, 237
Ruyton XL Towns, history and
antiquities of, 40

Sahrifut Corolla referred to, 226
Salopian Shreds and Patches

quoted, 23
Salop, name of both town and

county, see Shrewsbury and

Shropshire

Sandford, ei^teenth century
house, 254

Saxon dispossession very com-
plete, 14

and Celtic periods, history

of the, I-I2

settlement of Shropshire,

extent of, 9, 14, 15

^work, evidences of, in many

churches, 237

Saxton's list of parks in Shrop-
shire during Elizabeth's
reign, 204

Saville, Sir George, " the great
*' trimmer," a pupil of
Shrewsbury School, 22c

Schools, endowed, for viuage
elementary education, 232,

Grammar, of Shropshire, 212-

232

Shropshire, the, 210-235

School, the Shrewsbury, see

Shrewsbury School
hours in former times, 218,

221, 227, 231
Scott, Captain Jonathan, of

Betton, 117
Scriven, Sir Thomas, of Erodes-

ley, mortally wounded at

Lee Bridge, 173
a pupil of Shrews-
bury School, 225
Scromail, British leader, defeated

by Ethelfrith at Chester, 8
Seagrave, John de, lord of the

manor of Stottesdon, 244
Self-sacrifice, heroic, of a boy

at Bridgnorth Grammar

School, 216, 217
Sequestration Committee Report

at close of CivU War,

174
Seventeenth century woodwork,

252
Severn, Danes went up as far as

Buttington, 11

legends concerning the, 126

Shakespeare, quoted, 85

reference to the battle of

Shrewsbury, 19
Shavington, 253
Shawbury, 236
Church, tower built in

fifteenth century, 246
Shaw's Church under the Co mmo n-

wealth cited, 106, 107

•96

INDEX

SlMhc^ 61

Shcpstone, \ra]iaa« tu poet, 8t.

Gnaunar Sdwol. 13*
Shcnr* Thomas, Clak of tlw

Covrt of the lieicfcfi, ^47
SherilEhalet» a proviDdAl Uni-

^eni^ fo«Med at, 943
Shifaal, hmoiy and • a&tiqiiiliet
j>f, 44, 4C

w. IT School, aa8

Shiyan, John, fovBdi a ^rillaee
ichool at Lydbofj Norta,

Shiptoii,^eiaaple of old hooae,

bnltin 1589,

Shire, General hutory of the, see

Shrawardine, 90, 251

Castle, 63, 190^ 193

— — i?*/ri//r dted, 190, 194
ShrewsDury : —

A flourishing centre of Celtic

power, 8
Attacked by Wild Edric, 13
Belesme's rebellion sup-
pressed at, 15
Besieged and captured by

Stephen, 16
— —during the Civil War, 171
Brother of Edward V. born

at, 20
Captured by Llewelyn the

Great, i8

the Parliament, 186-188

Charter taken away by

James II., 22
Council of War held at,

196
Defence of in the Civil War,

21, 169, 186-188
Early names of, i, 7, 10
Fine houses built in the six-
teenth century in, 246, 247
Foiled attempt by Mytton to

capture, 182 ; successful,

186.188
Grey Friars, Black Friars,

and Austin Friars at, 89, 90
Had two representatives in

Parliament, 201
Inhabited by refugees from

Uriconium, 25

fediiw
ns 3

and social tza-

centwy, J3, a4
Loyal to King John, 17, 18
MsAT iraitora, dv^ig Qvil
mtf in, 174, S76, ttei 187
Mentioaed as a town ia

ZVncsMj^, so
Once proposed to be made a
^'^% see^ aao
-Unifeisity

Oidoicns '

Vitalis edw:aled tt.

Paziiameat of laSt held at,

t^, a8

1397 held at, j8

Private schools earij ests^

lished in, ata
Reached ita greatest import

tance in the fifteen^ sad

sixteenth centnries, S9
Received privileges itobi

Hennr L. 15
Riot between troops and

townsmen, 174
Royal visiu to, sec Jtoyal

Visits
Show, Annual, of trading

gilds, 136-138
Statue erected to Richard,

Duke of York, 20
Troops in state of mutiny for

arrears of pay, 186

^Abbey, 14, 70, 196, 246

Castle erected by Roger dc

Montgomery, 13
dismantled by James II.,

—held during the Anarchy

for Matilda, 16
School built in seventeenth

century, 251
distinguished pupils o(,

21, 184, 224-226
-headmasters of, 220-

224
lends ;f6oo to King

Charles I., 166, 323
^removed to Kingsland,

224
short history of, 220-

226
Shrewsbury jAnden's) dted, 71,

lor, a6o
—-Ckrameltr cited, r48

INDEX

297

Shrewsbury, John Talbot, Earl of,

43, 267-269
Shropshire : —

Christianity probably due to

Celtic missionaries, 66
Civil War in, 162-194
Early names of, i
General history of: —

1. Celtic and Saxon
periods, 1-12

2. Norman period, 12*17

3. Plantagenet, 17-20

4. Tudor, 21-28

5. Stuart and Hanoverian,
21-23

Largely Royalist under

Charles I., 21
Royal visits to, see Royal

Visits
Schools, 210-235
Social changes in, 14, 23, 24

^Archsological Society's

Transactions cited, 46, 49
78, 84, 90, 97, loi, 102,
139, 269

Folk-Lore (Miss Burnc*s),

cited, 7, 67

Sidney (Sydney), Sir Henry, 21,
148-151, 157, 160, 222

Sir Philip, 148, 224

a pupil of Shrews-
bury School, 21, 224

Ambrozia, 148, 158

Marv, 148, 149

Siege of Lichfield Close, 168

Shrewsbury, 171

Silchester, 65

Silures, the British tribe of the, 3

Simnel Cakes, 140

Sunday, 140

Simon, Thomas, the King's en-
graver, 156

Sixteenth century marked by
building houses rather than
churches, 246

Skeel's Council in the Marches
of Walts cited, 161

Slaney, Mr., founds an elemen-
tary school at Barrow, 232

Smyth, Bishop, founder of Brase-
nose College, 145

Social changes in Shropshire, 14

Social England quoted, 15

Society of Friends in Shropshire,
III-II4

Soldiers, distinguished, of Shrop-
shire, 267-271

St.
St.
St.

Soulton Hall, seventeenth century
erection, 254

Sources of Shropshire Christianity,
65.67

Speed's Map referred to, 204-238

Spoliation of parochiail endow-
ments for monastic uses,

78, 79
Sprenchose, Roger, builds the

first Longnor Hall, 241
St. Aidan, 66, 6; y

St. Alkmund, i^ I2, 67, 78, 79,

246, 255
Augustine of Hippo, 75
Benedict, 69
Chad, 28, &, 67, 255
St. Cuthbert, 67
St. Dominic, 88, 89
St. Dunstan, 69
St. Evroul, 56
St. Francis, 88, 89
St. Juliana, 67, 246, 255
St. Laurence, 143, 148, 154, 158,

246
St. Mary, 167, 246, 252
St. Milburga, 55, 72, 73, 237
St. Oswald, 8, 9, 35, 132
St. Owen, 67
St. Sampson, 66
St. Sulien, 67
St. Winifrede, 71
Stafford, Charles I. passes

through, 164
Sta£fords, strange fatality in the

family of the, 200
Stage Plays out of doors, 139
Stanton Lacy Church, 237, 244
Stanwardine Hall, early seven-
teenth century building, 250
Stapeley Hill, legend concerning

milch cow on, 126
Stapleton Church, early thirteenth

century, 242

moat house, 241, 242

mound, near church, 242

Star Chamber abolished, 153
Statutes, interesting, of Grammar

School at Market Drayton,

227
-Grammar School at

Newport, 231
Grammar School at

Oswestry, 218
Grammar School at

Shrewsbury, 221
Stephen de Blois, Anarchy under,

398

INDEX

Stephen de BloU besieges and
captures Shrewsbury, 16,

27
Stevens' list of religious houses

in Shropshire, 196
Stevenson, Richard, benefactor of
Donington Grammar

School, 230
Stiperstones, !ead mining under

the Romans on, 3, 195

legends concerning the, ia8

mining on the, 195

Stoke St. Milborough, Heath

chapel, 239
Stokesay oought by Laurence, of

Ludlow, 30, 240
Castle, legend concerning,

126, 190

changes in ownership of, 199

Church, 252

Lord Craven of, 162, 250

Stottesdon, 62, 237

Church, cont§iins Saxon work,

62, 237
contains, in chancel and

south aisle, Decorated

work, 244
Strange, Hamo le, Lord of

Stretton, 85
Stuart period, history of the, 21,

22
Stury, Richard, a Lollard, 96, 97
Summers, Will, jester of

Henry VIIL, 264
Sundorne Castle shows revival of

Gothic ideas, 256
Sunny Gutter, near Ludlow, the

scene of the Comusy 132
Superstitions, gradual decay of

old, 120
Swinfield, Richard de. Bishop of

Hereford, 80
Household Expenses of,

quoted, 81

Tacitus' Agricola quoted, 210
account of the defeat of

Caractacus, 4, 5
Talbot, John, the great Earl of

Shrewsbury, 43, 267-269
Tallents, Francis, of Shrewsbury,

108
Tarleton, Dick, the comedian, 264
Tasley Church, fifteenth century

screen, 243
Taunton's English Black Monks

of St. Benedict quoted, 69

Taylor, '' Demosthenes,*' a pupil
of Shrewsbury School, 225
Telford, the engineer, designs
St. Mary Magdalene's
Church, Bridgnorth, 255
Templars, The Knight, 86
Tennyson quoted, 87, 98
Thomas, Bishop of St. Asaph,
pupil of Shrewsbury

School, 225
Thorpe, William, the Lollard

priest, 95, 96
Three-decker pulpits, 255
Tille's Yule and Christmas cited,

141
Tittcrstone Wake, 135
Tolls levied, 33, 50, 55
Tong, 54, 61, 190, 212, 243
castle, captured by the

Royalists, 180, 254
Church, early fifteenth cen-
tury architecture, 245
endowed elementary school,

232

hospital, 245

Towers, the great glory of fifteenth

century architecture, 246
Townesend family distinguished

in county history, 272
Henry, Recorder of Ludlow,

160
monument to Sir Robert and

Dame Anne in Ludlow

Church, 158
Town, the significance of the, in

early times, 201
bailiffs of Shrewsbur>', inter-
ference with the school,

222, 22^
hall at Bridgnorth, rebuilt

during the Commonwealth,

Towns, Eighty, mentioned in

Domesday, 26
origin and evolution of the,

16, 17, 25.64
walled, of Shropshire, four in

number, 197
their changed con-
dition to-day, 197
Trade, the beginning of, in the

towns, 27
Tradition, old, gradually dying

away, 120
Trelystan Church, half-timbered

fifteenth century work, 245,

246

INDEX

399

Trokelow, John de, cited, 96

Troops raised in the county for
the King, 167, 168

Tudor period, history of the, ao,
21

Tumulus at Ludlow, 31

Turner, Captain Timothy, Parlia-
mentary officer, 180

^Thomas, headmaster of Wor-

field Grammar School, 329

Tyllier, Colonel, reduces Tong,
180

Union of England and Wales

e£fected, 147
University once proposed for

Shrewsbury, 233, 214
, provincial, founded at

SherifFhales, 234
Upton Cressett, example of old

country house, 208, 247
Magna Church, tower of,

built fifteenth century, 246
Uriconium, the Roman city of,

4-6, 25
^remains of, used for local

buildings, 7
Uttozeter, Charles I. passes

through, 164

Vandalism in churches, 2^5, 256
Vaughan, Captain, of Burlton,

killed at Hopton, 177
Sir William captures Apley

Castle, 177-180
appointed Royalist

General of Shropshire, 184
defeated at Stow-in-the-

Wold, 192
personal bravery at

Wem, 184
pupil of Shrewsbury

School, 22J

Vaughan*8 Mansion in Shrews-
bury, 243

Vernon, Sir Harry, rebuilds Tong
castle, 243, 245

Vicissitudes of Shropshire
families, 200

View Edge, legend concerning,
126

Viking invasion, i, 10-12

Villages and towns, rise of the, 9

Village schools endogred for ele-
mentary education, 232, 233

Viroconium, see Uruomium

Vision of Piers Plowman quoted,

91, 92
Visitation of Shropshire^ quoted,

107, 272
Vivary (fish pond) at Newport, 47,

130
Voltaire 8 comparison of Fletcher

of Madeley, 117
Voysey, John, Bishop of Exeter,

145

Wakeman, Sir Offley, cited, 139
Wakes in Shropshire, 132-135

at well sides, 132, 133

on hill-tops, 132, 135

Walcot, John, endows village
school at Lydbury North,

233

Wales, Union of England and,
effected, 147

^work of the Council of the

Marches in, 143- 161

Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy
cited, 105

Walled towns of Shropshire in
medieval times, 197

Waller, Sir William, Parliamen-
tary General, 170

Wallop, Henry, fierce Republican,
176

Walls of Oswestry, 36, 37

of Shrewsbury, 27

Walsingham, Sir Francis, 150

Thomas, 96

Walter the Pennyless, 82

Edmund, monument of in St.

Laurence's Church, Lud-
low, 158

War, the Civil, not a class
struggle, but one of religion
and government, 207

Council of, held in Shrews-
bury, 169

Wareham Castle, where Robert de
Belesme d[ied a prisoner, 15

Waring, Edmund, becomes owner
of Humphreston after the
Civil War, 194

Edward, Senior Wrangler,

pupil of Shrewsbury School,
22s

Wars of the Roses, 10, 20

Water myths, 129-136

Waties, Edmund, monument of,
in St. Laurence's Church,
Ludlow, 158

Wattlesburgh, 61

W^'Hsmt to the Ovil War, m^
Wavts of conquest f^aised i>ver llac

1, Pfrlustorit, a
J. Cell!, 3

4. Brjthocis, 3

6-t3

. Danish, to>t3
NoTm;it], ]2<14

Webtier, Petct, fouAded Wkittmg-

toQ Grammar Scb<H>]y 2J2
WeW, Johti, of Wiliey, Hieh

Sii Johfi, a! Willejj Rojalkt

leader, i6g
WelliogtoQ, hiiforj tud iDii*

quitka of, 53, 54
— — Charles I, makea im impor-

tanl declATalion at^ £64
' ^Chiirch captured by Ccitonel

Mytton for PaiUameni, 178

-=— tebtiill in 1790, 253

Grammar School, Ji 6-220

' — -old icarket bouse, now dii-

appeared, 247
Wells, legends cooccTuing, 13 r,

13a
Well, Sl Dswmld**, at Oswestrfj 132
Welsh, cloth, trade in, 2g
intermittent wati with the,

I?. 19
lettlementf in Clan Forest

and the bill cotintiy behind
Oswestry, 10

Welshpool, regiment of RoyjiJ

Dorse surprised and cut np

at, iSj
Wem, faistorj and antiquities of,

S0| St
^Graramar School, snort bis*

tor? of, 33g
occupied and fortified during

the Civil War, 171
— — stomaccl by the Royalists, 173
unsuccessful m vestment of,

by the Royalists, 1S0, iSip

*9o

Wer^lock, history and antiquities

of, 54-56, 67
*-*— annuitl festrval, 136
Edge, new road made by

Henry I. over, 15
— — had two representAtivcs ia

Farlia&ieni^ floi

the oldest in the coanlji

107
Wesley, Jobn, in Shrop^biie, 114-

IJ7
Wesiex:, Ibc Icingdom of, 9
Westminster Assembly, 105
Weston, see WMU^rck
West Sasoaf, invasion of, nnikf

Ceawlity, 7-9
Wbitchnrcb, hislory and aolt-

qnities of, 42-44 _

~— — Cburch; a dignified eightesotb ■

century buiWing, 354 ■
the bmnal-prace of J^hn

Talbot, ^e great Earl a£

Sbiewsbuty, 269

— ■ — —fall of, 240

<Grmmmar School, 220

beadquartcrs of Ro]raMst Mm}

in Civil War* 169
surprised and captured by Sif

WiUiiLm Brereton, 170, 171

Tisiled by Charles I., 166

While Abbey at AFbcrbur^^ 81
'—^-Friars, the, in Shropshire, 50
Whitehall, the, in Sbrewsbsuy,

207, 20S, 24 S
Wbiteladies, Tjn»nery near

Boscobel, 75

legends of, 129

Whitgift, Bisbop of Worcester,

151
Wbilmore, Sir William, of ApJry

Park, and bis sons cap-
tured, 1S6
— — ^builds a siJiool and

master's house for the

Bridgnortb Gramnut

School, 2t6
Whtttington, deseribed by Leknd,

ca^e held during the

Anarcby for Matilda, 16
— — <^iammar School founded is

26Sr, J32

rattle of, 182

Wbition, near Wcstbury, sewn-

teenth centujy house ^ 354
Court, near Ludlow, ei&mple

of old boose, 208, 250
Wigmore castle beiie^ed and

taken by Henry IL, 17
Wilcockes, Jobn, headmaster ei

Oswestry Grammar Sdkool*

3j<^ __

INDEX

301

Wild Edric, 13, 37, 128, 131

Humphrey Kynaston, the out-
law, 129

Wilderhope, a sixteenth century
house, 247

Willey Hall, built about 1815, 2^6

William the Conqueror's rule m
Shropshire, 12- 14

de Warren, 42

Pcverel, 83

Williams, John, pupil of Ludlow
Grammar School, 215

' J. H., town clerk of Lud-
low, 157

Freeman, Captain, quoted,

237
William, Speaker, pupil of

Shrewsbury School, 225
Willier, Captain, assists from

within at the capture of

Shrewsbury, 187
Willis, Sir Richard, Royalist

leader, 175
Wingfield, John, Parliamentary

leader, 168, 194, 248, 251
Wishing Wells, 131, 132
Witches, a secret society, 122

frolics, 122

^ legends concerning, 126

Withiford manor house, 243
Wolfherc, son of Penda, lays

waste the country, 9
Wolsey, Cardinal, 145, 146
Wombridge Priory, 44, 54, 80, 238
Women's appeal at the siege of

Oswestry, 181
Wood, Basil, ' his list of county

families, 20^, 206
Woodhouse, Austin Friars' settle-
ment at, 90

Woodhouse, Rev. John, head of

the provincial University at

Sheriffhales, 234
Sir Michael, Royalist Com-
mander, 1 68- 1^0
Woodwork, interesting, of the

seventeenth century, 252
Woolley, Bishop of Clonfert, a

pupil of Shrewsbury School,

225
Wootton, 61
Worcester, Battle of, ai
Worfield Church has chancel of

fourteenth century, 244
fifteenth century spire

work, 246

Grammar School, 228, 229

Worthen, 61

Worthirus of Wales (Churchyard)

quoted, 143
Wrekin, chief Roman city of

Shropshire, near, 4
legend how the mountain

was first formed, 125, 126

legends concerning the, 124

Wakes, 134

Wright's Uriconium cited, 7
Wrockwardine Church, 244
Wroxeter Church, early cross

built into, 236
has Saxon work and

Roman stones, 237, 248
Wycherley, William, dramatist,

261
WycliflFe, John, 94, 95
Wylc Cop, Shrewsbury, Hennr

VII. slept in a house still

remaining on, 20
Wynn, Colonel, killed at the

storming of Wem, 173

I & Sods limiuwl, Dtrby and Loodoo

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